Namikaze Naruto: Clan Demon
by Gurken
Summary: AU: The Namikaze clan is an establised clan in Konoha, and Naruto, with his father, mother and brother, is seeking to become a renowned Shinobi. A series of events lead Konoha into chaos, leaving the blonde with a dire decision to make.
1. Chapter 1

Namikaze Naruto:

**Namikaze Naruto:**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in the slightest. Would be awesome if I did, though.

**A/N: **I gave up on my last story due to lack of interest, lack of time and lack of response. So, I've decided to start over again. I have by no means any more time than I had before, but I have realised that I have got sufficient time to write a fanfiction. So here goes. Just so everyone knows going into this, Naruto is likely to end up being severely over powered  
**  
Summary:** What would happen if the Sandaime had sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto instead of the Yondaime? What if the Namikaze clan was a powerful and established clan in Konoha? What would Naruto's life be like with a father? Much better, assuredly. Follow Naruto as he grows into a hero, trying as best he can to follow in his father's footsteps.

**Chapter 1  
**

Namikaze Minato grinned as he watched his six year old son torment the great Toad Sage, Jiraiya. His former sensei had, as a favour to Minato, started training Naruto in basic fitness and chakra moulding exercises. Naruto was progressing well, probably because of his insane fitness and enormous chakra stores. He couldn't mould chakra or anything yet, but Minato could feel it just below the surface, waiting anxiously to get out.

This was just a temporary thing, seeing as Jiraiya was only in Konoha for a couple of weeks. But Minato hoped Naruto would make as much of it as possible. Then, perhaps later Minato would take over his training, if only for a short while.

"They seem to be getting along fine," his wife said from behind him. Kushina wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. "How are they going?"

Minato kissed her head affectionately, before turning back to the mismatched pair currently resting in the Namikaze clan training grounds. "They're going great. Jiraiya seems to have taken quite a shining to him. And Naruto loves anyone willing to train him."

Kushina laughed. "He does. He's almost as eager as you were. I hope Seikou is just as enthusiastic."

Minato's mind wondered to their other son, Seikou. He was only a four and a half years old, and had been a joy for Minato and Kushina so far. Naruto absolutely adored his younger brother, and loved spending time with him. The Yondaime knew they would become close when they got older, and would hopefully be able to motivate each other to train as hard as possible.

A banshee-like screech erupted behind the pair, forcing them to clap their hands over their ears, or risk losing their sense of hearing. Minato winced. _Kami, that kid has a set of lungs on him!_

Kushina immediately rushed inside to check on little Seikou, while Minato leapt down from the balcony to where Naruto and Jiraiya were looking at him questioningly. "What's wrong with Seikou-kun?" asked Naruto, his eyebrows knit in worry.

"Nothing serious, I don't think. We probably just woke him up," Minato answered with a smile.

Jiraiya chuckled, ruffling Naruto's hair. "Worried about your little brother?"

"No! I was just wondering! That's all," Naruto sputtered, blushing slightly.

"Naruto, it's alright to care about your brother. It's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I'd be worried if you weren't concerned," Minato said comfortingly. He picked Naruto up and placed him on his shoulder, ignoring the boy's protests. He leapt back up to the balcony he'd been observing from, Jiraiya trailing behind.

xXx

Minato strode into Seikou's room with Naruto on his shoulder and Jiraiya following him. They found Kushina next to Seikou's crib, the child resting in her arms. He was a cute little thing, with hardly any hair, bright blue eyes and rosy red cheeks. Naruto jumped down from his fathers shoulders, wanting to play with his otouto.

Minato and Jiraiya watched this from the doorway, both of them smiling. Behind the contentedness, however, they remembered the price of such happiness. The smile faded from Minato's face as his mind was drawn back to the last day of the Kyuubi's attack.

Konoha lost a good many soldiers that day, but no loss was as great as that of a former Hokage. Minato, as the Yondaime Hokage, had been prepared to not only sacrifice his own life, but possibly ruin the life of his son by using the Shiki Fuujin no Jutsuto seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. But, as he made ready to leave with his son to face the mighty Bijuu, Sarutobi had intercepted him and convinced him to let _him_ seal the beast into Naruto, so that although he would be cursed with a demon, Naruto would still have a father and a family to protect him.

Minato had reluctantly agreed, realising that not only was Sarutobi right, but the more he argued, the more lives were lost while he delayed the sealing. So he handed Naruto to the Sandaime Hokage and summoned Gamabunta, ordering him to obey Sarutobi and aid him in combat with the Nine-Tailed Fox.

The boss toad summon begrudgingly agreed, before leaping off with Sarutobi atop him in the direction of the Kyuubi.

Minato would never forget that moment.

Mere minutes later, there was a bright flash of white light, and then silence. The Kyuubi was defeated and the Sandaime, dead.

The village, after realising how the demon had been disposed of, immediately wanted Naruto dead, and from that moment hated him. It wasn't until Minato released a statement to the village stating the workings of the seal, and explaining, with the help of Jiraiya, that Naruto was no demon – that in fact by holding the demon, he was a hero and protector of the village – that they stopped calling for his blood.

The villagers got over their fear of him, and slowly stopped hating him. They now respected him for what he'd done. It had been close, and there were still those out there who quietly hated the demon container, but under Minato's watchful eye Naruto was safe.

Minato was shaken from his thoughts by Jiraiya, who was looking at his watch and saying something about having to head out for 'research'. Minato laughed and bid farewell to the Sannin, as did Naruto and Kushina, Seikou gurgling happily. Jiraiya departed, and Minato realised he too would soon have to leave, as he was due at the Hokage tower.

He bid his family goodbye with a kiss and a hug, before leaving.

It was going to be a long and paperwork filled day.

xXx

Namikaze Minato stifled his chuckles, praising himself for the genius prank he was about to pull on his eight year old son, Naruto. Today was two weeks before lessons at the Ninja Academy would start, and he fully intended on having Naruto there. He had no doubt that Naruto would flourish, and become one of the best ninjas the village had seen.

The last two years Naruto had trained not just with him, but a variety of other strong ninja. These ninja ranged from Jounin to Chuunin, including Minato's own student Hatake Kakashi - whenever he had spare time - Yuhi Kurenai, and one memorable month with Maito Gai. And of course he'd trained under Jiraiya every time the Sannin dropped by Konoha for a visit.

Jiraiya worked on Naruto's basic ninja skills. With his huge chakra stores, his control would have been absolutely dreadful without training, so they'd taught him some basic exercises to help improve that. He had by no means perfect control, but he would be able to learn and use more jutsu than he would be able to otherwise.

Kakashi had taught Naruto some simple offensive Jutsus, which Naruto absolutely loved. He, like his father, had an affinity to Ninjutsu, and loved learning as many as he could. This made the infamous Copy-Nin the perfect person to teach him.

Minato trusted a Chuunin named Yuhi Kurenai with Naruto's Genjutsu training and general knowledge, though he showed very little promise with either. With control a necessary part of Genjutsu, he would probably be average at best.

Taijutsu Master, Maito Gai, trained Naruto for one month in his 'Iron Fist' form of fighting, which not only brought Naruto's fitness up greatly, but strengthened his mind and work ethic. Minato then decided Naruto would benefit more from a personalised Taijutsu form.

When he was not busy with Hokage duties, Minato taught Naruto about the different secrets and aspects of the clan, with the help of other clan members. The clan head, Minato's older brother Namikaze Shuhan and his son Waizu were mostly responsible for his knowledge of clan jutsu, history and their elusive Kekkei Genkai as well as Kushina.

By the time Minato stopped reminiscing and remembered the prank he was about to pull, Naruto was already well awake and confused as to his father's presence in his room. "Otousan… What're you doing in my room this early? It's only… six-thirty!" the boy exclaimed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and glancing at the clock.

Minato realised he'd been caught red handed attempting to prank his son, so he tried to brush it off and change the subject. "Well, Naruto, you've got two weeks until you start at the academy."

Naruto stared at his father before getting out of bed and heading towards his closet.

"So," he continued, "Shuhan and I have decided you need to start training as early as possible. You'll be training at least four hours a day for five days a week until you start at the academy."

Naruto emerged from his closet in a smaller version of his father's clothes, minus the flame-tipped coat. He was wearing full ANBU gear, black boots, and gloves with his blonde hair held back by a pair of green goggles. He'd inherited his father's bright good looks, so everyone instantly knew who he was and where he'd come from, although he had no idea what the whisker-like were, but assumed they were birthmarks.

"Training? This early?" Naruto was torn. He loved training and learning new jutsu, but he hated having to get up this early. "Um… I guess it's alright. Who's gonna be training me?"

Minato found it hard to keep the pride out of his voice. "In the morning it's going to be Shuhan and I. After that, for an hour we'll have Kakashi train you since he's on leave from missions, then probably Waizu-san. He's in his last year at the academy, so he should be able to give you some pointers on lessons there."

Naruto grinned. He loved training with Kakashi, someone he considered an uncle. He was an expert at all sorts of Ninjutsu, and was more than happy to teach Naruto some of the easier and less dangerous ones – at least until he was a full-fledged ninja. He wasn't too fond of Waizu, though. His cousin wasn't a bad guy; he was just a bit too serious all the time.

Unlike the rest of the clan, he was arrogant. He considered himself the best, just because he was a Namikaze and heir to the Clan. There wasn't much Naruto could do to teach him otherwise because he was still smaller and younger than Waizu. So until he'd become a full-fledged shinobi, he'd have to wait to put him in his place.

But training with his father and uncle would be fun. They taught him about the clan's history and secret jutsu and stuff, which Naruto always looked forward to – although generally the jutsu more than the history.

"That sounds great! I can't wait to learn more about our jutsu!" Naruto yelled, punching the air excitedly. "Hey, Otousan? After training today, could I go see Sasuke and Hinata-chan? Please?"

Naruto had, after a brief meeting with the two a year ago, become close friends with Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata. They'd spent most days with each other, training or just eating when they weren't undergoing family training in their own respective styles. Their families were happy with this, as it would benefit each of their clans greatly despite Naruto not being the Namikaze heir. After all, if something were to happen to Waizu, Minato would become the heir and Naruto would be next in line. In the face of political connections, the Kyuubi meant nothing.

But that wasn't why Minato was happy with this – as the Hokage; politics meant little to him unless they looked to depose him. He was happy because Naruto had close friends he could trust, something that may not have been possible had the villagers minds turned against the 'demon boy'. Minato smiled before answering. "Of course, maybe I'll show you a jutsu to impress them with."

Naruto looked excited at the thought, and practically bounded out the door.

Minato just smiled.

xXx

Naruto was really hoping he could get his chakra right for this. He'd been told by his father that this particular jutsu should be easy for him, because it required practically no control and a large amount of chakra. Under the watchful eyes of his father and uncle, he once again formed the seal, pumped as much chakra into it as possible and yelled, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" There was a burst of smoke, and there appeared fifteen physically real clones. Unfortunately, each of them had some sort of deformity about them. They either had too many limbs, missing limbs, or miss-positioned body parts. Naruto screamed in frustration.

Minato chuckled softly, before approaching Naruto with Shuhan. "You're doing brilliantly for an eight year old, Naruto. But you're not focusing enough on your form. You need to concentrate on the image of your body while forcing out the chakra so that the clones will take that shape."

"And once you get that right you could focus on another desired form for the Shadow Clone, which you could use as decoys for team mates or even inanimate objects to fool your enemies," Shuhan added. "But this all gets easier once you practice the jutsu; you won't even have to think about the form eventually."

Naruto nodded at his seniors and tried again, this time using less chakra and making sure to focus on his image when he pushed out the chakra. There was another burst of smoke, and five fully formed clones emerged, each looking happy with themselves. "Yatta!" exclaimed Naruto, punching the air.

"Well done, Naruto-kun!" congratulated Shuhan, approaching one of the clones with a grin. "Now, with these clones there comes one vital difference you can use to your advantage. When a clone is dispersed, you are able to absorb its memories and therefore any information it has managed to gather."

Minato stepped forward and ruffled Naruto's hair affectionately. "This not only makes them invaluable on reconnaissance missions, but also makes them quite useful for training. You could make, say, a hundred clones and have each of them practice a certain jutsu. You could then have this jutsu mastered within a week, where it would usually take months, or even years to master."

Naruto seemed to get even more excited at this. He jumped and hugged his father, then his uncle before they told him to create as many clones as he could to test his limitations. Naruto nodded and moved back to give himself space. He made the seal, forced in as much chakra as he could while focusing on his own image, then shouted out his jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The entire training ground was covered in smoke, and when it eventually cleared there were at least five thousand shadow clones present. Both Minato and Shuhan felt their jaws drop.

All the Naruto clones punched the air at the same time and gave a deafening "Yatta!"

Minato smiled proudly, before telling Naruto to dispel the clones, which he did in a burst of smoke. "I'm so proud of you Naruto. You're progressing beautifully." He picked him up and placed him on his shoulder. "That will be all for today. I have to head to the Tower now, but Kakashi's due to be here any minute. So, train with Waizu-kun for a bit while you wait for him."

Naruto plastered a smile on his face for the benefit of his uncle. "Great! I look forward to it."

Despite his son's best efforts, Minato could tell he was lying, as could his brother. Shuhan knew his son was arrogant, and was deeply shamed by it. He felt it his duty to either set his son straight, or name another heir to the Clan in his stead for a Clan ruled in arrogance was easily toppled

"Waizu will be here in half an hour, Naruto-kun. Get something to eat while you wait," Shuhan said with a smile. Naruto gave each of them a hug before dashing up to the house to tell his Okaasan about his new jutsu.

Shuhan looked at his younger brother, his smile dropping from his face. "Minato, I worry for Waizu. He has become arrogant. He is talented, no doubt, but he believes himself superior to the rest of the village simply due to his blood. He is no better than the Uchiha." He felt bad for saying such things about his twelve year old son, but he knew it to be true, if a bit harsh.

Minato chose his words carefully, not wanting to offend his brother or his nephew. "Waizu is… a bit arrogant, yes, but with good cause. He is easily the strongest student in his class, and by the time he makes it to Genin, he will no doubt be the strongest Genin Konoha has; even stronger than some of the older ones." Minato turned away from his brother. Not entirely sure what to say next. "But… his attitude in respect to the clan is… unfitting of an heir. I'm sorry Niisan. But you need someone to take him down a notch."

Minato turned in the direction of the Hokage Tower and walked away, leaving his brother to his thoughts. He may have been a bit harsh, but everything he'd said was true, and Shuhan knew it. Minato sighed. Sometimes the complexities of a Clan were too much.

His mind once again moved to his sons. Seikou had just begun his chakra moulding and fitness training, undergoing the same regime that Naruto had two years ago. He'd started it a bit later than Naruto, but he hadn't developed as much as Naruto had. Nor did he have as much stamina or chakra. Then again, he wasn't housing the Kyuubi.

Naruto's training would continue as it had today through his time at the Academy, possibly changing the further he advanced. His training was a bit harsher than the children of other major clans, but this was to be expected. While most of the village loved Naruto for his unwilling sacrifice, there were still a few Shinobi who muttered quietly in the darkest corners of Konoha, planning their revenge on the 'demon'. Naruto had to be ready to defend himself, and he had no problem with the training as he loved learning Jutsu.

Naruto's determination would hopefully push him to the top of his Academy class, and past that to eventual greatness. Minato knew his sons would be brilliant; they were, after all _his _sons.

xXx

Seikou looked out the window into the Clan training grounds smiling happily. He was so lucky; he was the son of the Hokage, member of a respected and prestigious clan, he had a loving family with two caring parents, and an inspirational older brother. An older brother that absolutely adored him, and wanted nothing more than to spend time with him and help him become the best ninja he could.

Seikou, while aware of all this, did not quite understand or appreciate this as much as he would when he was older, but he still knew he was lucky.

He was watching his Niisan and older cousin train together; they were mostly just doing light sparring, but every now and then Waizu would stop Naruto and show him errors in his form, or show him better ways to use certain Jutsu. Waizu was a genius and he knew it, he was the pride of the Clan closely followed by Naruto, who showed just as much – if not more – promise than Waizu.

Seikou himself had only just started his training, though his brother had secretly taught him things behind his parents' back. It was too early to tell how strong he'd eventually become, but his father said he was proud of him no matter what.

"Seikou, Where are you, hun?" called Kushina up the stairs of the family's house.

"I'm here kaasan!" yelled Seikou from his room. He turned from the window and went downstairs into the kitchen, where he found his mother, a retired kunoichi, making waffles for breakfast.

"I hope you're hungry, Seikou. Naruto won't be able to have any waffles 'cause he's training at the moment. You'll have to eat his share," said Kushina, as she piled the waffles onto a plate for Seikou.

"I love waffles!" said Seikou, grinning madly. "I'd love to have Niisan's!" He picked up his fork and began to dig into the breakfast, his stomach rumbling in approval.

Kushina laughed lightly at her son's antics. He was such a lovely kid. "Kakashi-san was due here an hour ago to train Naruto, so he'll get here in roughly half an hour. Be ready to train then, because he's training the both of you,"

Seikou nodded eagerly, his mouth too full of waffles to say anything. He'd only trained under Kakashi once, but he found learning Ninjutsu to be great fun. He didn't enjoy as much as his brother, but he still couldn't wait. He dug into his breakfast with renewed vigour.

xXx

Naruto was forced to, once again, ignore Waizu's arrogant ramblings. The only thing that kept him training with Waizu was the thought that afterwards, he'd be learning some possibly new jutsu from Kakashi-Sensei. Were it not for that, he'd have walked out on his superior long ago.

Naruto bowed, before assuming his stance. He was using a combination of the Iron Fist style taught to him by Gai, and a style taught at the Academy to face his cousin. The combination had been created by his father specifically for Naruto, after noticing Naruto's love of wide-area Ninjutsu and his knack for coming up with battle plans on the spot.

Waizu charged forward with a jab to Naruto's throat, which he dodged before attempting to sweep out his cousin's legs from under him. Waizu avoided this by performing a flipping axe kick, which Naruto barely dodged. Naruto ducked low, and used a double-hand thrust to Waizu's chest to give him time to create hand seals.

Waizu caught his cousin's wrists, though, pulling him into a kick that forced the wind out of Naruto's lungs. He then turned, and dropped to one knee facing away from Naruto, though keeping a solid grip of his wrists. Waizu pulled on his arms, trying to flip him onto his head, but all that landed in front of him was a pile of logs.

Waizu swore, before scanning the area to find his elusive cousin. He heard a laugh from above him, but it was too late.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four Naruto's landed, surrounding the older boy.

Waizu seemed shocked, and had apparently noticed that these were _solid _clones, and not merely illusions. "Shit," Was all he could say before the four Naruto's pounced. Waizu dodged to of them, but the other two managed to land solid hits to his face and chest. The other two landed behind him, and threw quick kicks to the back of his knees, dropping him to the ground. Then all four drew Kunai, and held them to his throat. "I give."

Naruto whooped, and jumped in the air excitedly. His clones dispersed themselves, returning memories of the different angles of Waizu's stance to the original. He ignored this for now, too swept up in the euphoria of having finally defeated his older cousin; albeit with the help of a Jounin level Jutsu.

"Yeah, yeah…" Said Waizu, trying to quiet his cousin before he drew the attention of any of the other clan members also using training ground. "You only beat me because of that stupid Jutsu. Where'd you learn that, anyway?"

Naruto laughed, still happy with his victory over the clan heir. "You don't know it? I'm surprised! The _great _Waizu doesn't know a Jutsu?" Naruto gave another amused chuckle, dodging Waizu's swipe. "I learnt it just this morning, from our Dads."

"Having fun, you two?" said a calm voice from behind them. Naruto turned, and a grin instantly split his face. Kakashi had come bearing new Jutsu.

x

xXx

x

**A/N:**Phew. First chapter. Wasn't too bad, aye? Suppose I won't find out until I send it off to my beta Feilyn. I can't say for sure how often I'll get around to updating, but I can assure you that if I get a decent response, I will not give up on this story and will see it though until its' finish. This chapter won't have been released until I've got a couple of chapters under my belt, so the first few should be relatively quick. This is my first Naruto fanfic, so review please, and don't be afraid to flame! Until next time, folks.

Oh, and just a quick note. The Namikaze clan is an established clan in my story, with almost as many members as the Uchihas pre-massacre. They have a Kekkei Genkai, though I won't be revealing any details about it for a while. I can tell you it is a doujutsu – I know, I know. Cliché. But I love doujutsu, so he's getting one. Anyway, see ya soon. :

Today's inspirational song – 'Don't be that Note' by The Scene Aesthetic.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. Kay?

**Chapter 2**

"_Having fun, you two?" said a calm voice from behind them. Naruto turned, and a grin instantly split his face. Kakashi had come bearing new Jutsu._

"Yo," Kakashi said with a wave, "Sorry I'm late. I was out of milk, and the store I usually get milk from was closed. So I had to find another store that sold this particular brand of milk." He made little to no effort in disguising his obvious lie, but that was one of the things that Naruto loved about the former ANBU member.

Naruto ignored the Jounin's antics, and embraced him, giggling childishly all the while. "Niisan! Do you have a new jutsu for me? Do you?"

Kakashi patted the child's head calmly. "Yes, actually. It's a low grade Jutsu, but it's extremely useful," Naruto was a bit downed that it was low grade, but seemed to perk up upon hearing its usefulness. "I just have to get your brother and we'll begin. Waizu, your father wants to see you,"

Waizu bowed before heading in the direction of his house. The Clan training grounds were situated in the middle of the Clan's land and the houses for each family were built around it. There were paths connecting all of the houses to each other, the gates leading to Konoha, and the training grounds. Naruto's house happened to be right next to the grounds, which suited him magnificently.

Before he knew it, they'd run up to the house to collect Seikou and were back at the training grounds, bowing to their temporary Sensei. Kakashi created a shadow clone, which he sent off with Seikou to teach him tree climbing. He turned back to Naruto, who was practically frothing at the mouth at the thought of learning a new Jutsu.

"Alright, Naruto-kun – I'm going to teach you Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu." _Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique_. "I'll demonstrate for you in a second." He created another Bunshin. "Watch carefully, and then I'll explain what you do." Kakashi then disappeared into the earth.

A couple of seconds passed, before a pair of hands reached up and grabbed Kakashi's clone by the ankles, before pulling it down until only it's head was exposed. Kakashi then burst from the ground behind the clone, shaking dirt and gravel from his clothes. "Woaaahhh…" was all that Naruto managed before jumping up and down, asking to be taught the damn Jutsu already.

Kakashi laughed at the child's innocent antics, "All right, well what you have to do first is make sure you're within a five metre distance of the target. Once you are, you send your chakra out below the ground to connect you and your enemy," Kakashi knelt next to Naruto, and began drawing a diagram in the dirt, using stick figures to represent him and his enemy. "You then compact your chakra, which should make it easier for you to tunnel towards your opponent. Your chakra should have weakened a direct passage, so all you have to do is make sure to grab your target on your first try; otherwise the element of surprise is lost."

Naruto studied the diagram before nodding slowly. He stood, and before Kakashi could say a word, he'd created fifty shadow clones and split them into pairs. "Alright, guys. Pair up and practice the Jutsu. You've got half an hour before you can dispel yourselves," He ordered.

Kakashi looked impressed. "So your father already taught you this jutsu, did he? And you already know how to use it properly. Very well done Naruto, at this rate you'll have the Jutsu down in no time. While we're waiting, let's go check on your brother."

Naruto grinned, before grabbing Kakashi's hand and dragging him over towards where his brother was training with his doppelganger.

xXx

"Now Seikou, what have you learned so far in your training?" asked the Jounin's clone, who was already beginning to feel a tad nervous. He'd never liked young kids very much. He may have gotten used to Naruto, but he'd never spent much time around Seikou so the kid still had him unsure of how to act.

Seikou grinned up at the silver-haired Jounin, "Niisan has taught me loads of stuff. Like Bunshin no Jutsu, Kawarimi, and henge! He says I'm better than he was at his age 'cause I have better control than him." Seikou beamed with pride.

Naruto was a great older brother, Kakashi couldn't help but think. He was already doing a great job teaching his otouto. "Alright, let's see how good your control really is. I want you to climb this tree here," he said, pointing to a nearby oak, "Using only your Chakra. What you need to do is concentrate a consistent flow of Chakra to your feet." He demonstrated, a puff of dirt announcing the presence of chakra. "Now you try."

Seikou concentrated, and could feel the chakra flowing around his body. He gently directed a small flow towards his feet. There was a small puff of dirt, much like Kakashi's.

The one-eyed ninja nodded, "Alright, now keep the flow even – not too much, not too little. Then copy me." He placed one foot onto the tree, before defying gravity and walking straight up the tree. He turned around to watch Seikou have a go. "You can get a running start if you like; just make sure to keep the flow even. If you use too much, you'll go flying off the tree – too little, and you'll slide down."

"Ok…" Seikou moved back to get a running start. He took off, and started running at the tree feeling confident in his abilities. He placed one foot on and it stuck, so he kept running. He managed to make it seven steps up the tree before his foot slipped and he started to fall. Seikou cried out in fright, before landing on top of his older brother. "Niisan, you saved me!"

Naruto grunted and pushed his otouto off him. "Yeah, lucky you're so small or that might've hurt." Seikou seemed mock offended at this.

"Tree climbing, aye? Don't let me get in your way. Continue,"

Seikou turned back to the tree, looking to impress his older brother. The real Kakashi dispelled his clone from behind Naruto, who was still on the ground. "Watch this, Niisan!" announced Seikou, before setting off at a jog towards the tree. He concentrated hard on keeping the flow even, finding it easier this time around. He made it fifteen steps up the tree, before he stopped, looking proud of himself. He then continued slowly walking towards the top.

"Well done, Seikou. You've picked this up much quicker than your brother did," said Kakashi, keeping a careful eye on Yondaime's younger son in case he suddenly slipped and fell.

"Well done, Seikou-chan!" said Naruto, ignoring Kakashi. "You've got way better control than me," he said with a laugh. Seikou cheered before walking back down the tree, something he found to be much more difficult as gravity wanted him to speed up.

"Yes, your control is definitely above average, and absolutely astounding for your age. With that kind of control, I wouldn't be surprised if you could challenge Kurenai-san - or even Uchiha Itachi - in Genjutsu skills one day!" encouraged Kakashi, clearly exaggerating.

"Genjutsu? Are those the illusions and stuff? That could be fun…" said Seikou, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

Kakashi laughed, "Yes, once you've learnt some more chakra control exercises, and you can control your chakra perfectly, I'll have Kurenai-san teach you all about Genjutsu. Or rather, I'll talk to your father about it." He looked up at the sky, checking the time. "Well it looks like that's it, kiddos. It's time to head back home. Naruto, go dispel your clones and show me how far you've come with the jutsu."

Naruto nodded, and headed back to where his clones were while Seikou and Kakashi headed back home.

"Alright, guys. That's all we've got time for. Let me see how much progress we've made." The clones all nodded, before dispelling themselves. Their memories flooded Naruto's mind, which made him sway, feeling slightly dizzy. They'd almost gotten it completely. All he had to work on was grabbing his enemies ankles in one go and he'd be set. Everything else came as second nature to him.

Kakashi's previously buried clone was waiting next to Naruto, to see how far he'd come. Naruto laughed before disappearing into the ground. Seconds later, arms appeared below Kakashi's clone, flailing around for his ankles. He grabbed them, finally, and dragged him down so only his head was visible. Naruto popped up next to him with a whoop.

Kakashi's clone dispelled itself, after telling Naruto to head home, where the original was waiting for him. He agreed with a smile.

xXx

Uzumaki Kushina had never taken her husband's name, oddly enough. As one of the few remaining Uzumaki's, she had pleaded with the Namikaze clan to accept her, and let her keep her family's name. It was one of the few things she had ever asked for. The Namikaze were a kind clan, and were more than happy to grant this request.

She had fallen in love with Minato when he was on a mission to Whirlpool as a Jounin, not long after his Genin team had passed the Chuunin exams to advance a rank. She followed him back to Konoha, the village he loved, and decided she wanted to raise a family with him. She may have been forced to give up her own life as a Kunoichi, but she loved Minato, and he was worth it.

Minato was made the Yondaime Hokage not long after their return, and was happier than he'd been in a long time. He was even happier after his appointment, when they married. Kushina was allowed to keep her last name, and got her wish of a family. Unfortunately, her first son was not born into the peaceful, loving village Konoha had been.

Instead he was born into a village under attack from the strongest of the Tailed Demons, the Kyuubi. Minato was forced to make the toughest decision of his life, by choosing to seal the demon into their newborn son. Fortunately, for their family, Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, performed the sealing in Minato's stead. The village was saved, Minato was alive, and their son was left unknown about the evil residing in his belly.

Kushina then decided she wanted another child, and was blessed only two years later another son, Seikou. It was always known that their children would become ninja; they were born into the Namikaze clan, so they didn't have much choice. But luckily enough for them, both of their children loved the adventurous life Shinobis often led, and soon developed a love for training.

It was after one such training session that Kushina found herself trying to appease both her sons' cries to "check out" their new Jutsu. Kushina could only giggle at their excitement, and try her best to hush them. "Alright boys, you can show me your Jutsu after breakfast." As expected, both of the budding Shinobi whined immaturely, but eventually sat down at the breakfast table where their waffles were waiting.

"But Kaasan, I already had waffles! And I ate Naruto's too, I can't have more. I'm still full!" complained Seikou, poking his waffles with his fork.

Naruto was already stuffing his mouth full of the scrumptious looking waffles, but looked up upon hearing this. "So Seikou gets two servings? That's not fair, Kaasan! I want seconds. Do I sense some favouritism?" he questioned jokingly.

His mother sent Seikou a stern look then turned to Naruto. "Oh, shush, Naruto. You were training, and Seikou looked hungry," Kushina chided before rounding on Seikou. "And you, you'd better make sure you eat up those waffles. I don't want to see anything wasted. Besides, aren't you the least bit hungry after all that training?" Seikou managed to look sheepish, and nodded the affirmative. Kushina smiled and thanked Kakashi once again for training the two. He bowed then, using Shunshin, disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Naruto finished his waffles before looking up at his red-haired mother. "Kaasan, what time can I go and see Hinata-chan and Sasuke? You said I could, remember?" Kushina smiled at the mention of her eldest son's friends, glad he found people who he could spend time with and around.

She nodded her consent, her ever-present smile seeming to stretch wider. "Of course, hun. I'll take you around to see them after I finish up a couple of things, okay?" Naruto nodded happily, before running upstairs to gather some things to show his friends. Whenever they got together, he, Sasuke, and Hinata would train together, play ninja or pull pranks on the villagers. Since Seikou was only six, he didn't have any friends apart from Naruto and anyone he associated with, so he spent most of his time with Kushina at home. This left him feeling slightly lonely, but Kushina knew that he'd find his own friends once his time came to join the Academy, if not before then.

xXx

Naruto emerged from upstairs an hour later, a backpack slung over his shoulder bulging with things Kushina was completely oblivious of. "Can we go now, Kaasan? We're meeting at Sasuke's house because his older brother's supposed to be teaching us some new jutsu!" The usual excitement present whenever training was involved crept into Naruto's voice. He was bounding with energy, so much so that Kushina was feeling tired just looking at him.

She gripped his shoulder and began steering him towards their front door. "Alright, Naruto-kun. Just calm down and we'll head off now." She checked over her shoulder to make sure everything was in order, "Seikou-kun! Hurry up, we're walking Naruto to the Uchiha compound." Seikou, however, was already out the front door, and had apparently been waiting for his family to catch up.

"Can we play Ninja, Kaasan? Show us how to leap like you and Otousan," Seikou begged, jumping around excitedly.

Kushina shook her head at the young child. By now she was used to his attempts to get her to teach him all sorts of things involved with the Shinobi life-style. "No, Seikou-kun. That's something you'll learn at the academy, or if you want you can ask Kakashi-san to teach you," she replied before setting off, holding both of their hands.

She'd always had to be gentle when turning down her son's requests, as he was an attention seeker, and any rejection was usually met with something more outrageous to garner the attention he so desperately wanted. Kushina had often thought this was due to all the attention she and Minato had inadvertently shown Naruto which, unbeknownst to either of their children, was due to the demon sealed within him. Since Seikou had no idea about the Nine-Tails, he just assumed that Naruto was their favourite, and so tried as hard as he could to get attention from his parents.

What confused her is that this behaviour was constantly fluctuating. Sometimes Seikou was loud and overzealous, other times he was completely calm and quiet. At first, she thought maybe he only went quiet because he was upset by something, but later realised the child was still just as happy, if not more so, then when he was being overbearing. Her son had turned out to be quite the enigma, as none of this seemed to have any affect on his chakra control or his mood. Thankfully, the fluctuation between being overly loud and completely normal seemed to be a rarer occurrence than it had the previous year. It had only started once he was able to think and talk coherently, but had since begun to slow until now he was quiet and normal more often than not.

Kushina realised that they'd arrived at the Uchiha compound, and that she'd been quiet the entire walk there. Her boys hadn't even noticed though, too busy chatting with each other about how much stronger they were going to be than the other when they eventually became Shinobi. This brought extreme pride to Kushina, seeing her children so eager to become strong, and she knew they would push each other to become the best. She cut herself off there, least she once again lose herself in her thoughts.

Standing at the front of the compound, waiting for Naruto were both Uchiha Sasuke, and Sasuke's older brother Itachi. Naruto practically dragged Kushina, and by connection Seikou, along as he picked up the pace to see his rival and best friend.

Itachi was the first to notice them, chuckling at Naruto's eagerness. "Otouto, Naruto's arrived," he said quietly. Itachi had been the ideal older brother, and was great with Sasuke's friends. This came as a surprise to both Kushina and Minato, both having heard of Itachi's mercilessness with criminals and his seemingly emotionless way of operating as ANBU captain.

"Naruto!" said Sasuke excitedly, before he noticed Naruto's companions, "Ohayo, Kushina-san, Seikou-kun. How are you today?" Sasuke and Itachi bowed low, as was required between the two prestigious clans. Their bow was returned by Naruto and Kushina, Seikou being too excited to notice.

Kushina ruffled Seikou's head, causing him to cross his arms and frown in annoyance. "We're doing well, Sasuke-chan, Itachi-san. Just dropping Naruto off," she said gesturing to the blonde jinchuuriki. Sasuke was too busy chatting animatedly with Naruto to notice the greeting. "Well, I have to be off. Seikou and I are going to go shopping. Take care of Naruto for us."

Itachi nodded with a smile, waving as the pair took off in the other direction, Seikou once again pestering Kushina to 'play ninja' with him. Itachi turned back to Sasuke and Naruto who were now looking around for Hinata. "She shouldn't be too long. Hiashi-san likes to always make a point of being punctual," he said reassuringly, noting in the back of his mind they probably didn't know what "punctual" was.

Naruto looked up to Itachi, as did Sasuke. The elder Uchiha's power had demanded respect and reverence from the rest of the village, but more so from his little brother. Itachi had taken pride in training Sasuke, and hoped that he'd be able to drive him to become one of the best ninja in the clan whilst staving off the arrogance that seemed to consume the rest of them.

The blonde haired Namikaze turned to Itachi, hoping to weasel some more Jutsu out of him. "So Itachi, what kind of Jutsu are you going to be teaching us today?" he said, feigning naïve innocence.

Itachi chuckled once again at the child's ever so subtle ploy. "And who ever said I was going to be teaching you Jutsu, Naruto?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, no one said anything. I was just wondering – because you know lots of Jutsu, and if we're playing ninja we'll need all sorts of Jutsu to play it properly," answered Naruto, scratching the back of his head.

Sasuke immediately understood the blonde's plot, and shook his head at the simplicity. "Itachi's going to teach us Jutsu anyway, Naruto. Your plan was stupid and obvious. Maybe we should ask him to teach you some tact?" he commented jokingly. Sasuke loved to get Naruto riled up; the two were rivals and often mocked each other for their shortcomings. But at the same time, they were best friends, and their taunts always had an undercurrent of affection.

"Eh, what do you know? You wouldn't know tact if it hit you in the face," retorted Naruto, grinning wryly. "Speaking of hits to the face, what do you say about a spar later on? Kakashi-sensei taught me a new jutsu and I really wanna show it to you and Hinata-chan," he added.

Sasuke seemed to look forward to the idea of a sparring match, but Itachi would have none of it. "No, you two train too much. I think you need to find something else with which to occupy your time."

This caused an immediate uproar, as each of the two boys lived to become shinobi and rarely thought of anything other than training. Itachi raised his hands in a submissive gesture. "Alright, how about this; I'll teach each of you a new jutsu, then I have to leave for patrols. Does that sound alright?"

The two boys nodded their consent, before Naruto noticed a certain pale-eyed heiress approaching the compound. "Hey, there's Hinata-chan!" he pointed out. A mischievous grin grew on his face as he realise she hadn't noticed them yet. "She hasn't seen us, wanna pull a prank on her?" he asked looking between the two brothers.

Itachi made a non-committal sound while Sasuke sported a grin much like Naruto. "Yeah, great idea," he laughed. "What have you got in mind?"

Before Naruto could respond, Itachi had placed a stern hand on each of their shoulders, keeping them in place. "Are you two stupid? Can't you see Hiashi-sama is escorting her? Any form of disrespect from _either _of you could dampen the relations between both of your clans and the Hyuuga," he lectured, though his face conveyed no emotion whatsoever. "No matter how close you are to his daughter, or how lenient he may be with you, it is still disrespectful, and children in your particular positions must always hold a higher standard of behaviour."

He released his iron grip the moment Hinata and Hiashi were close enough to greet them. "Ohayo, Itachi-san," the elder Hyuuga said, tilting of his head in acknowledgement. He turned to Hinata's friends. "Boys, how are you two today? Not up to too much mischief, I hope?"

The boys shook their heads, before launching into their own greetings to both Hiashi and Hinata, the latter returning them in much the same fashion. Itachi glanced at the boys before turning his gaze to the Hyuuga head. "Ohayo, Hiashi-sama. Thank you for escorting Hinata-san to the compound."

Hiashi let out a low chuckle. "No, thank you for looking after the children for a while," he then tilted his head in apparent confusion. "But am I mistaken in believing that you should be leaving soon? I'm certain a respectable ninja such as yourself must have a mission to attend to?"

Itachi nodded. "Yes, I must leave within the next hour for patrols. But they shall remain within the grounds after I leave, and will be supervised by some of my other kin." He glanced down at the three future academy students who were currently chatting amongst themselves. He noticed Hinata seemed to be quite reserved, only coming out of her shell at Naruto's insistent questioning. The poor girl had been this way ever since her mother had died in giving birth to the girl's sister, Hanabi.

Itachi was shaken from his reverie by Hiashi's reply, though no one but the most skilled observer would notice. "That should be fine. I must be off now." He turned to the children. "Farewell children. And be sure to act and behave appropriately Hinata." He headed off in the direction of the Hyuuga grounds.

Itachi motioned for the children to follow him into the compound, which they did without hesitance, chatting all the while. He was surprised at Hiashi's personality. After his wife's death, he'd become a cold man, being cruel to his daughter and demanding only the best from her. She was unable to fulfil this, have been hit hard by the loss of her mother. But somehow the white-eyed man had overcome that. This was probably due to frequent meetings held with the Yondaime, and the fact that Naruto was almost always around Hinata. It was difficult not to brighten up around such warming personas; even Itachi found it difficult to remain emotionless around the blonde Namikazes.

Once they arrived at the training grounds, Itachi turned to the three youngsters, a rare smile adorning his face. "Before I leave," he began, "I will be teaching you the Konoha Shunshin."

xXx

Naruto grinned as he appeared atop the nearest tree branch, the only thing signifying his disappearance from below being a swirl of leaves. Itachi had left half an hour ago after teaching the three the basics of this essential Jutsu. They had then picked the rest of it up easily, Naruto and Sasuke in particular. Since they'd figured it out, the three had been using it non-stop to appear in many different places. This was only possible for Sasuke and Hinata because the Jutsu required very little chakra.

There was another swirl of leaves next to Naruto, where Hinata suddenly appeared a confident smile plastered on her face. Whenever she was with Naruto and Sasuke, Hinata felt confident in her abilities, and was happier than she was normally. And since she'd been able to pick this jutsu up with such ease, she was especially confident today.

She turned to Naruto. "So where to next, N-Naruto-kun?" Her stutter had been very prominent immediately following her mother's death – especially when her father had been so critical of her – but since her father had begun to let up on her, and after the amount of time she'd spent with Naruto, it had slowly become a rare occurrence.

Naruto sent her a cheerful grin back. "It depends; do you know where Sasuke is? The show-off's trying to hide from us again." Hinata giggled, gesturing subtly towards the shrubs below them. Naruto winked at her, before they both brought their hands up in a seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Sasuke's smug smirk disappeared as he felt two very familiar presences materialise behind him. "Damn it. How'd you find me? You better not have used your Byakugan, Hinata," he said turning towards the pair.

Naruto laughed at his rival's reaction. "Psht. No, you were way too obvious. We could sense your chakra from a mile away," he replied confidently. Growing up in a ninja based clan, the three budding shinobi had been able to sense people's chakra signatures since they'd first understood what chakra was. Though, due to their level, they could only sense chakra within the immediate vicinity.

Hinata giggled once again at the blonde's confident antics. "Hai, Sasuke-kun; we could sense your chakra easily since we were directly above you." Sasuke seemed to get aggravated at this, realising how stupid he'd been in choosing that spot.

"Fine, you guys win this round. I'm getting a bit hungry. You two wanna get something to eat?" he asked, patting his stomach lightly.

Naruto turned to Hinata, checking to see what she would do. When she nodded, Naruto let out a loud whoop before marching off in the direction of Sasuke's house. Sasuke only raised on eyebrow before following, Hinata trailing behind.

xXx

Two weeks later and the morning air was crisp and cold, the sky barely visible through the clouds. Itachi sensed a familiar presence behind him and smiled. "Shisui, what are you doing here?" He turned to the boy standing behind him. He was your typical Uchiha; black hair, black eyes and arrogant to a fault. He was also Itachi's best friend. "You haven't got any missions, have you?"

It was far too early for anyone to be up, bar him. He had been summoned by the Hokage and was on his way now to meet him.

"I am here for you, Itachi," Shisui began.

Itachi's eyes narrowed. Shisui seemed tense, and his three-tomoe Sharingan was activated which was unlike him. "Do you know of our history, Itachi-kun? Of the power struggle of the brothers who first obtained the Mangekyou Sharingan?"

Itachi nodded, and was then forced to dodge the sword swinging for his neck. He tried flipping away from Shisui, but was cut off by two Kage Bunshins. Itachi drew his wazikashi, immediately skirmishing with the two clones. He forced them back far enough to create his own Bunshins who attacked and destroyed Shisui's. Itachi turned to his best friend with a questioning look.

"You wonder, Itachi? Surely you of all people understand the need for power," Shisui said, grasping his katana with both hands. Itachi activated his Sharingan, knowing he was going to need his eyes if he were to survive the night. "We are Uchiha, Itachi. We are not allowed to be weak. We must be the best ninja in the village; second to none. And the only way to get there…is with the Mangekyou Sharingan."

He leapt at Itachi, sword intent on his throat. Itachi attempted to dodge, but was too slow. The Katana pierced his throat, causing Itachi to gurgle in shock before bursting into a cloud of smoke.

Shisui gaped, having not noticed Itachi switch himself with one of his clones. He didn't have much time to think about it though because as soon as the smoke cleared Itachi was there, eyes blazing furiously and his wazikashi poised over Shisui's heart. He only hesitated a second before pushing the blade through his best friend's chest. The moment he seemed to pierce Shisui though, his opponent was suddenly ten metres away, watching Itachi attempt to murder an illusion.

Shisui smirked in amusement. "And you are the Uchiha genius? The heir to our prestigious clan?" He snorted derisively, unfolding his arms. "You can't even tell when you're fighting an illusion, much less the illusion of an illusion. How are you supposed to lead us?" Itachi heard a footstep behind him immediately after this. He tried to turn but found a kunai being held at his throat by Shisui. This was the real one, Itachi's Sharingan confirmed it.

"So this entire time I've been fighting an illusion?" Itachi seemed to nod to himself. "But you are the real one, my Sharingan confirmed it the moment you attacked me. It's a shame you are not as adept at spotting Genjutsu," Itachi disappeared in a swirl of colour, to Shisui's shock.

Even more surprising was the wazikashi that suddenly bloomed in his stomach. He looked down, feeling his world go cold. He grabbed at the wound, his legs giving way. Itachi caught him by them collar of his ANBU jacket. He turned him, cradling him in his arms. "H-how?" was all Shisui could manage.

Itachi remained seemingly emotionless. His answer was in the same monotone he used when dealing with dangerous criminals - it had never scared Shisui more. "I had you caught in my Genjutsu the moment I saw you. You are too easy to read. That and your foolish greed for power have caused your death."

Shisui's vision blurred, his hearing faded. HHHe was dying. He looked up at Itachi's emotionless face. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Itachi's Sharingan morphing into the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan.

xXx

Itachi dropped the body of his former best friend, grasping at his eyes in agony. They were burning; he could feel an immense chakra gathering behind them. The burning only lasted another five minutes, after which Itachi hesitantly opened his eyes. He did so, only to close them again immediately. He could see the body of Shisui in disturbing detail; the blood pouring out of the wound, the hollow look in his eyes. The Sharingan's amplification of detail seemed to have been increased ten-fold.

Itachi could feel the guilt and anguish rising up, preparing to take over him. He forced the emotions down.

This was what it was to be an Uchiha.

He couldn't let it destroy him; mentally or emotionally. He would continue on, as though nothing had happened. He had no choice; he would have to dispose of Shisui's body. The sound of flowing water caught his attention – The Nakano River.

Grabbing Shisui's limp body, Itachi calmly made his way through the foliage blocking the river from sight. Once at the bank of the river, he dropped Shisui's body, sighing in aggravation. He had grown tired of being an Uchiha. They were an arrogant bunch, full of themselves simply because of their blood. They backstabbed each other, killing not only their best friends but their brothers to acquire power.

Itachi knew what he had to do. Using the accursed power he had received, he would kill every Uchiha unworthy of remaining in Konoha. The few he would spare would be the children, those who were young enough to change their ways, and those who had achieved power without relying on their Doujutsu. Those knew the value of hard training. With this final though, Itachi pushed Shisui's body into the Nakano River. He knew the guilt and agony would never leave him, but he also knew he could use that to fuel his self-assigned mission.

xXx

Umino Iruka had only been a genin when his parents were murdered at the hands of the fearsome Kyuubi. Emotionally shattered, he'd unable to train for weeks. Eventually, he pushed through the grief and got back to training with his Genin team and Sensei, though he developed a fear of open battle and contemplated giving up life as a Shinobi. They took the Chuunin exams in Amegakure and passed, but barely. Iruka was then assigned by the Yondaime to teach at the Ninja Academy for a short period, and after three months there he found he enjoyed it and requested he be assigned there permanently. He didn't seek to further his ninja career by reaching a higher rank, and he was content.

But for the first time in his teaching career, he was nervous about taking on a class. This year he had not only the heir to two prestigious clans, but the son of the Hokage himself in his class. Now, this would not have been a problem were it not for the fact that this child had the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed into him. The one responsible for his parents' death and his fear of battle – a fear that was unheard of in a ninja. Iruka had thought about asking for a different class, but eventually reached the conclusion that he needed closure, and facing the one responsible would be the only way to achieve it.

Sure, he'd heard the Yondaime explain the seal. He understood that Naruto wasn't the Kyuubi. But he felt that by simply facing the one _containing _the source of all his grief, and the cause of his fear of open battles, he might finally be able to get on with his life. So, Iruka would push forward and force himself into the classroom. He'd had a previous meeting with his students, and what he had received was more or less what he'd expected. A well trained genius, spoilt and smart beyond his years in the way of the Shinobi.

What he hadn't expected, however, was the kid's likeability. Iruka hadn't spoken to the kid for more than five minutes and he'd already taken a shining towards him. He was relieved. Iruka smiled, and got back to his lunch. He was really looking forward to today's lesson, the first with his new class.

xXx

Naruto grinned widely as the Ninja Academy suddenly emerged on the horizon in front of him. It was his first day, and he couldn't wait. His mother and Kakashi-Sensei had offered to chaperone him to school until he was ready to leave. Kakashi was off on his first mission since quitting the ANBU black-ops after escorting Naruto and his mother to the Academy. He'd taken time off to decide whether or not to continue, or whether to just drop down to a normal Jounin. He'd also start taking up Genin squads this year, although he wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

As they continued their walk towards the Academy, something occurred to Naruto about his part-time Sensei. "Kakashi-Sensei, didn't you graduate the academy at the age of six?" He asked, looking up towards the apparently one-eyed man.

"Yes, I did. Why do you ask?" Came the muffled reply.

Naruto rubbed his chin in confusion. "I'm eight, and I'm only starting the Academy now. How does that work?" Kakashi just chuckled, and ruffled his hair affectionately.

Kushina decided that to clear things up for her son, "That's only because Kakashi-san was entered into the Academy early, as he was already an exceptional ninja," Naruto opened his mouth, but was cut off by his mother. "And the reason you weren't entered early, Naruto, is because your father and I want you to enter the Academy with your friends. Wouldn't that be better? Being with Hinata and Sasuke?"

Naruto thought about this for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, I suppose I'd get a bit lonely if they weren't here with me."

That seemed to content him, and he once again looked up at the approaching building. Two people caught his eye – chatting next to a swing under a tree were his two best friends.

"Sasuke! Hinata!" Naruto yelled, running off to join his friends. Kushina and Kakashi just looked on smiling.

x

xXx

x

**A/N:** Okay, a bit of a slow chapter, I think. But it was more of an introductory thing, to let you in on a couple of the main character's personalities within my story. This is an alternate universe, so they will be different, if only a little. I realise the Itachi/Shisui scene would have happened a year pervious, but I've held it up to suit my storyline. The next chapter or two will likely also be slow, just so I can set the story up and get things into motion. Once I get passed the first year at the academy, things will pick up pace and we'll soon be at the beginning of the canon storyline.

**Reviews:** Just replying to some of the reviews that I reckon needed replying to.

**Eyes of Truth: **I'm glad someone noticed that, actually. I'd originally had Seikou as a one and a half year old baby, which is where the description came from. I must've forgotten to update that bit, but thanks for noticing and I'll have that updated in just a second.

**Anthony1:** Yeah, I've already received a much better response to this story, which is awesome. My last one, I had only one chapter up for a week or two, and had only one review. I just got a little frustrated, I suppose.

To everyone else, thanks a lot for reviewing and just viewing my story at all! It means a lot to me, and any feedback I get I'm more than happy with.

I'd once again like to thank my marvellous beta Feilyn. :D

Today's inspirational song 'It's Dangerous Business Walking out Your Front Door' – Underoath


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… Yet

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto… Yet.

**Chapter 3**

_Two people caught his eye; chatting next to a swing under a tree were his two best friends; Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata. "Sasuke! Hinata!" yelled Naruto, before running off to join his friends. Kushina and Kakashi just looked on smiling._

xXx

Minato frowned at Itachi from across his desk, knowing full well of the occurrences that morning. He'd watched as the two Uchihas battled for their lives, and had witnessed Itachi's eventual victory. He knew Itachi had been provoked, and that he had every right to kill Shisui in defence. The Hokage just worried of the mental and emotional health of the young warrior before him. Killing your own best friend tended to have a negative effect on one's mindset.

Itachi remained emotionless under the Yondaime's piercing gaze. "You asked to see me, Hokage-sama?" he questioned respectfully.

Minato sighed in frustration. "Hai, Itachi-san, we must discuss safety concerns I have for the village, and organise patrols for the forest surrounding it," he began. "But more importantly, I must confess I saw what happened this morning. I was there when Shisui attacked you,"

Itachi wasn't entirely shocked by this. He'd known someone had been watching them, having felt their eyes on the back of his neck as he fled the area, but he had no idea it had been the Yondaime. "I was permitted to kill him, as he is the one who assaulted me," he stated in his defence. "It was merely self defence,"

Minato nodded solemnly, "I understand that. But I would like to know how you are feeling after such a fight. I know you may not be physically wounded at all, but Shisui-san was your best friend. Surely you must feel some remorse?"

Itachi's expression never changed, "I've known my entire life the risks of being an Uchiha, as did Shisui. He knew that by attacking me he risked his own death."

"So more or less, he had it coming," summarised Minato. Itachi nodded, chuckling inwardly at the Yondaime's blunt conclusion. "Very well, then. To the patrols; an associate of mine has heard of enemy movement near the southern border…"

Minato knew that Itachi was not all right, and had long since decided to monitor his behaviour lest he snap. He fervently hoped his suspicions were wrong.

xXx

Naruto looked around his classroom excitedly, hardly believing that this would be the start of his ninja career. To either side of him, his best friends were doing much the same, though Sasuke was much more subtle about it.

Their heads snapped towards the front of the classroom at the arrival of their Chuunin Sensei. There were two of them; the darker one had his hair up in a pony tail, and bore a large scar across the bridge while the other had spiky silver hair. Both wore Chuunin vests. Naruto recognised them as Iruka and Mizuki - he'd met the two once previously, as had most of the rest of the class. They were nice enough, Naruto just hoped they were skilled enough to bring out all of his, and his friends', potential.

"Good morning, class," greeted Iruka. The class replied in unison to both him and Mizuki. "Welcome to Konoha's Ninja Academy. Here you will be learning the basic essentials necessary to turn you all into the finest shinobi you can be."

Mizuki stepped forward from his place behind his scarred counterpart. "Some of you will have an advantage, as you may or may not come from a ninja family or clan. Others will have absolutely no experience with chakra whatsoever," he began, his eyes turning to certain children in particular. "For this reason, in three months we will be having an elimination exam. Those of you who do not show promise in Chakra moulding, Taijutsu or Weapons will be forced to leave the academy. We are sorry, but it is necessary to create the best ninja we can, and to not waste lives unnecessarily."

The room of forty students erupted. Or at least, those who hadn't already received some basic training or were first generation shinobi, erupted. Iruka tried to calm them down, but only managed to bring the ruckus down to a nervous murmur. Naruto turned to Sasuke then Hinata to check out the look on their faces. Sasuke, as usual, looked supremely confident in his abilities. Hinata looked to be bordering on nervousness and excitement.

Naruto himself grinned, knowing he'd have no problem with this course. Before leaving that morning, his father and Kakashi-sensei had given him their own personal exam to test his capabilities. They'd outright said that, at this stage, he could already be graded at mid-genin level. He had mixed emotions about this. He knew that by his age, both Kakashi and Itachi had already made Chuunin, so not even being on that level left him feeling unaccomplished and ordinary, but knowing that he was by far stronger than any of his peers had cheered him up a bit. So it levelled out, really.

Once the room had reached complete silence, finally, Iruka once again addressed the students. "Okay, now before we can have this test Mizuki-sensei and I will have to teach each of you the basics of combat, along with theory." He pointed to the board on which he had written the curriculum of the coming three months. "These include what chakra is, chakra control, seals, and the different types of Jutsu. At the end of the three months you will have to combine all of these, along with using some tactical prowess, to pass our exam."

After hearing the list, Naruto decided that he didn't really have to pay attention at all over the next three months, as he'd covered all of that at the meagre age of six. Judging by the bored look on Sasuke's face, he'd come to the same conclusion. "Looks like we're going to have to wait until we drop the dead weight before we start making any progress," he muttered to no one in particular.

"I dunno, Naruto," said Hinata meekly. "This c-could be a good chance to brush up on the basics."

Sasuke snorted derisively. "That's going to be most of our time here; I mean we're already as strong and smart as your average genin. Why can't they just grade us ahead?"

Naruto thought this over, blocking out the speech Iruka had begun on what chakra was. "That isn't a bad idea, Sasuke," he concluded. "I might ask Otousan if we can take the Genin exam a bit earlier than usual, and get placed on a genin team. That would be pretty fun, right?"

Hinata seemed a bit nervous at the thought, entirely unsure about her own abilities. She tried to voice these thoughts, but was cut off by Sasuke. "Great, sounds like a plan," he said still brimming with confidence. His annoyance at the pointlessness of their lessons seemed to have dissipated into thin air – Hinata wished it would be that easy for her. "That's the end of that issue." Sasuke crossed his arms on the desk and proceeded to nap there.

Naruto chuckled at the Uchiha's response, before he too took up a comfortable napping position. Hinata couldn't help but smile to herself; they were too cute. She quashed those thoughts in an instant, instead directing her attention around the class. As she surveyed her fellow classmates, she couldn't help but gape in wonderment at how…enthralled many of them seemed with Iruka's demonstration of Chakra and its uses. She shook her head, and realised how very right the two boys were, at least in regards to the next three months. More than half of this class would be let go, leaving very few potential genin.

The Hyuuga heiress had to stifle a yawn, before she realised how bored and tired she was. She put up a mild genjutsu, altering their eyes to make it seem as though they were paying attention, before joining her friends in their nap.

xXx

Naruto arrived home accompanied by his mother after his first day at the Academy. He'd spent the entire walk home complaining about how basic and boring the Academy was, and how he, Sasuke and Hinata could pass the genin test already easily. Kushina rolled her eyes, having already seen this talk coming. She'd known from the moment he'd begun his training that he would flourish early, and would likely find staying at the Academy boring and tedious. Minato had agreed, and had already organised something for the children.

"…we ended up just going to sleep, and they didn't even notice! Not even the Chuunin sensei," ranted Naruto, waving his hands wildly above his head. "Hinata said she'd cast a Genjutsu so they wouldn't notice, and that means that they didn't notice a _genin _level Genjutsu. Now that's just sad," he concluded.

Kushina laughed lightly at her son's mistake. "Actually, Naruto, Iruka did notice. He was just under orders from your father to not draw attention to it, and allow you your sleep." She laughed again at the confused look Naruto sent her. "Your father and I knew you'd be too good for the Academy, but to be sure we sent you anyway. If you deemed yourself above it, we arranged for your behaviour to be overlooked until we could organise a test for you."

The blonde haired jinchuuriki grinned confidently; sure he'd pass this 'exam' easily. Kushina found herself being slightly frustrated with her son's borderline arrogance. "Don't be so sure of yourself, Naruto. This test isn't as simple as you'd think," the red-head explained. "This test will be conducted by a Jounin, so using a couple of Genin to Chuunin level Jutsu isn't going to be enough to pass. But that's all you'll hear from me; you'll have to wait until the actual test to learn more."

Naruto contemplated his mother's words, knowing that she knew more about this than he did. He knew more than just 'a couple of Genin to Chuunin level Jutsu', but he still knew that even with his wide variety of Jutsu, he still wouldn't be a match for a Jounin. _But, _he thought, _this is all assuming that we'll just be fighting the Jounin. Kaasan said there was more to it. I'll have to wait and see until the test before I come up with any sort of plan._

Kushina knew her son would figure out the hidden message in the test her husband had arranged for him, and wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't already. Kushina was more worried about who their Jounin sensei would be. A lazy silver haired pervert came to mind. She shook her head at the thought, and made her way to begin dinner. Naruto headed towards the clan training grounds, a determined look in his eye.

xXx

The Uchiha compound was surrounded by large wall, and guarded only at the entrance gates by members of the Konoha Police Force. They were elite Shinobi, mostly of the Uchiha clan, who sought to gain pride for themselves and their clan by protecting the village from rogue ninja. "Because ninja who cause crimes can only be stopped by ninja who are even better," was what Itachi had told Sasuke when asked about the Police Force.

Sasuke looked up to his older brother, yet at the same time resented him for all the praise he received from their father. The young Uchiha craved that recognition, but he knew he'd always be in his brother's shadow. It was for that reason that he was glad he'd found friends like Naruto and Hinata. Had he not, he might have ended up in a dark place he didn't even want to think about.

Sasuke shook off the black thoughts, and continued down the hallway to his room.

"Sasuke," called a voice from behind him. He turned to find his father, Uchiha Fugaku watching him. "I have received word from the Hokage that you along with Namikaze Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata will be taking part in an early genin exam."

Sasuke felt excitement well up inside him, but kept his face calm. The only thing giving away his inner feelings was the slight blush that appeared on his face. "Hai, Otousan. Naruto said he'd speak to his father about it. The academy is boring, because they're only doing things that Naruto, Hinata and I have already learnt."

Fugaku nodded in approval at his son's words. "If you pass this test, you will be well on your way to becoming a fine ninja, like your brother."

Sasuke felt a pang of envy; he was always being compared to Itachi. He had never been acknowledged by his father in his own right. He lowered his head and gave a small, "Hai," before turning and heading towards his room. Fugaku frowned, before he too turned and headed for his room.

On the way to his room, Sasuke spotted Itachi sitting by the water-features in their backyard. He looked between his bedroom and his brother before approaching his brother quietly. Itachi didn't look at him as he sat down; he was staring blankly at the fountain. "Have you heard, Niisan?" Began Sasuke nervously. "I have a test to graduate from the Academy tomorrow. I'm going to be a Genin."

Itachi kept his eyes on the fountain. "Hai, father informed me. You will have graduated after only a day in the academy," he replied in a distracted tone.

Sasuke found the lack of response curious; normally Itachi was a supportive brother, and usually would have been extremely proud of his brother's accomplishments. But today he seemed distant, like his mind was miles away. "I was wondering if you could show me some Shuriken Techniques? I need to be ready for tomorrow, and you're the best at them…" Sasuke questioned hesitantly. The question drew a smile from the ANBU captain.

"Sasuke," said Itachi, finally tearing his eyes from the fountain. Sasuke looked over at his brother, only to receive a sharp poke to the head. "Forgive me, Sasuke. Next time, okay." He then stood up, and headed inside. Sasuke couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. Why had he worried about his brother at all? He was still the same, probably just had a bad day. Sasuke then decided to head over to the Namikaze Clan grounds and see if Naruto wanted to train with him. He set off, rubbing his forehead lightly.

xXx

Itachi forced down the anxiety, not for the first time since his fight with Shisui. It had been a long day; after his meeting with the Hokage, during which he'd barely been able to hold his composure, he had left to begin his patrols of the village's most vulnerable areas. His ANBU subordinates had noticed his mood, and had questioned him about it. In his current mood, he'd snapped at them, feeling the guilt and anguish once again rise up in him.

His squad had been scared into silence, as it was unusual for Itachi to break away from his usually calm, emotionless demeanour. For him to snap like that was simply unbelievable. They'd kept their distance from him until the end of their patrol, and then headed off home in silence.

He'd then arrived home to be questioned by his father about the murder of Shisui. His father hadn't been concerned about the murder itself, but more for the results. He had asked Itachi about the Mangekyou Sharingan. When Itachi had revealed it, Fugaku had offered to find scrolls for Itachi to make it easier for him to master, which Itachi had calmly declined.

His father had been shocked, but then regained his initial pride and left his heir to his own devices. After rejecting his brother's request for training, he'd then been left alone in his room to drown in his own depression. But he'd force the tears down again and decided to get to the task at hand – the extermination of all unworthy Uchiha.

But before he could actually commit the crime he'd have to somehow master the accursed power he'd been gifted. That matter was one he was entirely unsure how to solve. He could always accept his father's offer for help, but as his father was one of the people he'd deemed arrogant, he felt it would be rather hypocritical of him to take the help of someone he'd condemned.

Besides, he was the Uchiha Clan's pride; the genius, prodigy, and eventual head of the clan. He was certain that with just a little time he'd be able to sort through the powers his new eyes had given him. As far as he could tell, the chakra in each eye was slightly different, and were probably capable of different things. But he had yet to figure out a way to access this chakra, or how to use this chakra to use techniques.

Itachi activated his three tomoe Sharingan before forcing more chakra into his eyes, and transforming them into their Mangekyou form. As he'd expected, the usual effects of the Sharingan had been increased almost ten-fold, with everything being seen in much greater detail. He could also sense the different chakra being held behind each eye, just out of reach. Itachi had already guessed he needed some sort of hand seal to access the chakra, but had yet to figure out what seal it was he needed.

After sorting through his thoughts, he finally decided he had no choice but to accept his father's offer of help. He'd have to read through the clan's scrolls to figure out the secrets behind this new power, and hopefully master it. He'd have to suck up his pride and ask his father for help, or else he'd be no better than the rest of his clan.

xXx

The Hyuuga clan were, by a small margin, the largest clan in Konoha. They were extremely traditional and proud of their unique style of Taijutsu; the Jyuuken. Combining their infamous Doujutsu, the Byakugan, with the application of chakra into their strikes, the Hyuuga were capable of completely decimating an opponents Chakra system, even killing them with a swift strike to the heart.

It was due to the uniqueness of their style, and the dangers involved with learning it perfectly, that the Hyuuga were wary of letting their children train with anyone other than the clan. And although Hinata was the heiress to the clan, it was no different for her. It was only after a meeting with the Hokage that Hiashi had been willing to allow his daughter to train with her friends.

So after receiving news of the early graduation test her and her friends would be participating in, Hinata was eager to train in the hopes of increasing her chances of passing. She'd arrived at the Namikaze training grounds, outside Naruto's house, to find Naruto and Sasuke in the middle of a friendly spar. This was a regular occurrence; the first two to arrive at the training grounds would spar while waiting for the third part of their group. The last to arrive would have to hide their arrival and jump into the battle at the optimum moment. Once a winner was determined, they would then progress to their usual training.

Hinata watched the two from the edge of the forested area, masking her chakra as best she could. This fight was really heating up. Sasuke ducked under Naruto's jab, weaving his way past the front kick that was heading for his stomach. Dropping to his knees, he launched a double-palm strike into Naruto's stomach, pushing the blonde back wheezing for air. Naruto recovered just in time to block the two strikes to his head Sasuke had sent his way, and then forced his fist into Sasuke's gut in an upper-cut that lifted the raven-haired Uchiha into the air. Naruto flipped, performing a softened axe kick which drove the Uchiha into the ground roughly. Sasuke was out of the fight.

Just as Naruto landed, he heard the tell-tale sound of a blunted kunai slicing through the air. He rolled to his left then turned around to find Hinata in the low stance of the Jyuuken. He grimaced; fighting Hinata's special taijutsu style always left Naruto bruised and battered, usually without the use of his enormous chakra stores. The paled-eyed heiress charged forward, her hands flying towards Naruto's tenketsu. Naruto had to carefully avoid the flying hands, finding himself unable to block them lest he get stung by the chakra flowing from Hinata's fingertips. Flipping backwards to find some space, Naruto once again found himself dodging and weaving between Hinata's precise strikes.

Sasuke watched from the sidelines, amused. He did not envy Naruto. When it came to taijutsu matches, Hinata nearly always came out on top. She had, at first, been too nervous to pose much of a threat, but as she became more comfortable around them her confidence grew and she soon had the two outmatched in respect to taijutsu. Sasuke winced as Naruto took a particularly fierce strike to the shoulder, temporarily paralysing it. Naruto knew when he was beaten; and forfeited accordingly. Sasuke hopped to his feet, grinning at Naruto's loud congratulations.

"You're really good, Hinata," praised the blonde. "It's a shame I couldn't use Ninjutsu. I might've been able to win, then." Sasuke couldn't help but wonder at this. Who, out of the three of them, was the strongest?

Hinata had them beaten when it came to taijutsu, but was lacking severely in ninjutsu. Naruto was very proficient in taijutsu, better than Sasuke, and had the widest variety of ninjutsu out of them all. This, along with his huge chakra capacity, launched Naruto to the top of the three. Sasuke himself was not weak, not by any stretch of the imagination. He was good at taijutsu, had a decent sized chakra store for his age, and knew a lot when it came to ninjutsu.

He could probably beat Hinata in an all out fight, if he could get some distance from her and use his ninjutsu. Against Naruto, it would be a different story. The only way he could beat him would be to take him out as quickly as possible. If he didn't, he'd run out of chakra long before Naruto did. Naruto would be much the same as Sasuke against Hinata. So, he surmised, the three were fairly evenly matched.

Sasuke nodded to himself then turned to Naruto, who was explaining what his mother had told him earlier about the test. Sasuke laughed, having already known what the blonde had said. He just wondered who their sensei would be. Shaking his head, he got rid of those thoughts and down to training with his two best friends.

Naruto decided that since after becoming Genin they'd be put into a three man team, they should probably practice more on how they'd work together. So, with this in mind, he created three Kage Bunshins that he henged to look like generic shinobi, wearing a Kiri headband. Naruto had unconsciously taken up the role of leader, and told Sasuke and Hinata to flank left and right using prearranged hand signs. He flipped backwards into the cover of the trees, preparing to go for a triple pincer.

His Kiri-Kage Bunshins seemed to be tracking the three with their eyes, firing off the occasional kunai to hopefully pierce one of the three. The leader of the three flashed through hand seals, and with a yell slammed his hands into the ground. "Doton: Tenrai Hyoumenka!" The forested area that the three had disappeared into suddenly exploded as clumps of earth darted out of the ground, creating a forest of rock and stone. Normally, this jutsu would sharpen the edges of the earth being raised, but as this was only training, the Bunshins had decided to dull them.

The Bunshins waited anxiously for the three to appear somewhere, but found it difficult to spot the three academy students. Then suddenly they sensed two chakra sources approaching from either side of them rapidly. They turned,preparing to defend themselves, when a pair of hands reached out of the ground and grasped the nearest Bunshins ankles. The Bunshin was pulled under ground, and in his place rose Naruto, a Kunai in his hand and a grin on his face. As the other two Bunshins leapt to attack him, they were knocked back by Sasuke and Hinata, who hadn't masked their chakra to draw their enemy's attention.

The two Bunshins stood, eyeing the three warily. Naruto shoved his Kunai into the trapped Bunshin, only to find it was no longer there. Sasuke and Hinata each took off to engage their own Bunshins, leaving Naruto to find where his had disappeared to. He didn't have to wait long, feeling its presence suddenly above him. He rolled nimbly to his right, throwing the kunai to where the bunshin had landed, only to have to deflected by the Bunshins own kunai. Naruto grinned, before pulling out two more, one of which he threw. The Bunshin once again went to deflect it, only to realise it had an exploding tag attached. He was forced to dodge to his left, only to duck suddenly, as the second kunai had been thrown there in anticipation of his movement.

He tried to stand up, seeing Naruto approaching him quickly, but couldn't. He looked down, to see his legs once again gripped by someone below the ground, probably another clone. He cursed, looking up in defeat. He attempted to flash through had signs, but soon found his hands also bound by more clones.

Naruto grinned at him, before plunging his final Kunai into the Bunshin's throat. It disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto smiled to himself, before turning to see how his friends were faring.

xXx

Sasuke leapt after his chosen Bunshin, preparing shuriken in his hands. He threw them with precise aim, smiling as the Bunshin dodged just as he'd expected it to. He aimed a kick at the Bunshin's head, only to have it caught. He spun in the Bunshin's grip, throwing a punch at his jaw. It was once again caught, but this didn't stop Sasuke.

Using his other leg, he pushed himself into the air before flashing through hand seals. "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" He took a breath in, and let the chakra build up. As he began his descent back towards the Bunshin, he let it all out in a breath of fire; scorching the ground beneath him.

He stopped the flame before landing adroitly, and couldn't quite discern whether or not he'd destroyed the clone. Any burst of smoke emitted would have been covered up by the flames, and he cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner.

He immediately regretted not paying more attention to his surroundings when he was suddenly kicked in the head and sent flying. He managed to flip and land nimbly, but grimaced at the coppery taste in his mouth. He massaged his jaw, spitting out a glob of red. He had to come up with a strategy.

He didn't have time to think, though. The Bunshin charged him, pulling a blunted Kunai out of his pouch. Sasuke pulled out his own, and clashed, hoping to force the Bunshin back. The two seemed to be evenly matched. Suddenly struck with inspiration, Sasuke let his Kunai be pushed to the side, before dropping to his knees and sweeping the clones legs out from under him. He followed this through with a quick jab to the Bunshin's skull, which he avoided by rolling quickly to the side.

Sasuke winced as his fist made contact with the ground, but shook it off as the clone stood, throwing his kunai blindly at him. Sasuke grit his teeth, letting it fly past his head. He leapt back, creating hand seals all the while. "Genwaku no Mahi!" There was a sudden flash of white light emanating from Sasuke's hands, freezing the clone in it's tracks.

Sasuke took this chance to capitalise, thrusting his fist into the Bunshin's throat, following through with a swift shot the temple. The Bunshin gasped for a second, before going up in smoke.

Sasuke thanked Kami the Bunshins were largely weaker than their creator.

xXx

Hinata was a bit nervous coming into this. She knew her weaknesses and her strengths. She knew that, in anything other than close combat she was almost guaranteed to lose. It was for this reason that she'd been giving the Bunshin she was fighting absolutely no room to move. She was light and agile, and used this to her advantage. She was currently chasing down the Bunshin, whom she had already skirmished with in Taijutsu, trying to stay close enough to prevent him using any jutsu.

She spotted the Bunshin beginning to make hand signs, and increased her speed until she was hovering just behind him. He felt her presence and looked around, realising he'd be unable to complete his jutsu. He dodged the first swipe at his shoulder, rolling backwards to avoid the paralysing strike. He leapt up with a kick to Hinata's stomach, which she blocked using a Jyuuken strike. The Bunshin winced, throwing a punch at Hinata's head. She dodged this with practiced ease, moving inside his defences. Her hands moved in a blur, and left the Bunshin gasping for air. He, like his comrades, burst into smoke. Hinata grinned happily, before turning to where Naruto was waiting for her and Sasuke.

She leapt over to him, looking in awe at the initial devastation Naruto's Bunshin's had caused. She wondered where he had picked up such a powerful jutsu. He smiled at her as she arrived, and she grinned back. Things were looking good; they were functioning well as a team, and Hinata had no doubt they'd make a strong Genin squad in the future. This test would be easy.

Sasuke landed with his usual confident, aloof attitude, as if the Bunshins had been no match for him whatsoever. Naruto laughed at this, having seen the trouble he'd had with his Bunshin. "Have fun?" Naruto questioned rhetorically. "We seem to have everything down pretty well; we just need to tighten it all up. Become a proper team, ya know? Now, let's get to it!"

xXx

A gentle wind moved through the Uchiha compound, stirring the charms hanging outside the houses of various residents, the moonlight finally visible from behind the clouds. It was this light that dimly lit Itachi's way. He stood on the street that connected all the houses of the Uchiha clan, dressed entirely in his ANBU gear, though his mask was curiously missing. His red, Sharingan eyes seemed to glow maliciously. He slowly unsheathed his sword, mentally preparing himself for the massacre that was about to ensue.

He'd asked his father about the power of his Sharingan, and had been directed to a scroll located in one of the shrines in the compound. After reading, he understood that each person's Sharingan would contain powers unique only to that person once evolved to it's highest form. While the signs for each eye were the same, the technique hidden within would be different. He'd headed out into the forests surrounding Konoha, and had released the chakra in each eye, one at a time. He'd kept his eyes closed, as the scroll had instructed, and mentally felt each technique for its properties. He'd discovered that his right eye contained one of the fire techniques mentioned in the scroll, Amaterasu, while his left eye contained the Genjutsu technique, Tsukuyomi.

He'd been unable to train with either, as he'd had no one to train on. But he _had _decided that tonight was the night he'd commit the murder of arrogance in his family. It would be the perfect chance to train his eyes, and although he would be forced to leave the village he loved, he knew he'd be protecting it from the destruction such arrogance could bring. He closed his eyes, before opening them in the form of the Mangekyou. It was time to begin.

Itachi slowly made his way into the nearest house. He knew that once he'd begun he'd have to be swift in the murders of the rest, and that it would be difficult once they'd started defending themselves to spare those who weren't on his list. But it was necessary. He found his first victim in bed, sleeping quietly. There was a quiet intake of breath behind him, but Itachi ignored it. Whoever it was would be dead immediately after Itachi had finished here. Offering a silent prayer to the Gods, Itachi raised his blade before plunging it quickly into his enemy's throat. Before his blade reached its target, however, there was a blinding flash of yellow, his blade finding nothing but pillows. Ignoring the feathers flying everywhere, Itachi turned slowly, dread settling into his stomach.

Standing in the doorway with Itachi's would be victim slung over his shoulder, was the Yondaime Hokage. The Uchiha prodigy sheathed his sword, knowing he'd never stand a chance against the young Hokage. He kept his face neutral, but inside he was buzzing with dread. There was no escaping now. Itachi knew he was strong, possibly as strong as previous Hokages. But the Yondaime was on a whole different level. He was a prodigy like no other, one of the most powerful ninja to grace the planet.

"Itachi-san," he greeted calmly, showing no sign of hostility. "Let us talk in my office." He turned then and headed outside, doing nothing to ensure Itachi followed. Itachi was no fool. He knew that if he tried to escape, Minato would have his head in an instant. Besides, he was curious as to why he hadn't been stricken down immediately. Instead he was being invited to the Hokage's office to talk. Suddenly, Itachi was unsure about whether or not he'd be punished. He followed Minato all the way up to the Hokage Tower in complete silence, ignoring as best he could the ANBU guard he could feel surrounding them the entire way.

x

xXx

x

**A/N:** Sorry about the really, really delayed update. Both mine and my beta's computers went down. I've got mine back, and immediately started work on it, but my beta hasn't got hers back yet, I don't think. But she'll still be proof-reading and all that for me, from school. But expect quicker reviews from now until mid-June or July. I have my HSC in August, and lots of assignments and stuff between now and then, so it'll be difficult to put all my energy towards this. But afterwards, I'm all yours. :D

After reading this chapter, I want you all to keep in mind, this is an alternate universe. Things are going to happen differently to canon, and will have a very different timeline. Also, I hope this has answered any questions some of you may have had about Itachi's intentions. I want him to stay in Konoha 'cause he's way awesome. After a couple of slow chapters, as the next one will probably be slow as well, we'll get into some serious action.

I seriously get the feeling that the fight scenes may have been a tad rushed. But until my beta reappears, there's nothing much I can do about it, as I feel really guilty for keeping you all waiting for so long. Once my beta replies with the edited version of this chapter, I'll be replacing it. So, there may be a few differences. Expect the fourth chapter soon after this one.

The earth Jutsu Naruto's Bunshin used was of my own creation. I'm no Japanese expert, and I only used an online translation thingy. So I don't want anyone to flame me for it, kay? It roughly translates to: "Earth Release: Divine Breaking". More or less, the earth rises in juts due to an explosion of chakra below the earth. Normally, the juts are sharpened, but it's training to they've dulled them. It's only a B Rank Jutsu, though.

Sasuke's Jutsu was "Genwaku no Mahi!" meaning: "Blinding Paralysis" Just a flash of converted chakra that stuns the opponent for a couple of seconds.

Inspirational song for the day: 'A Most Profound Quiet' by Alesana


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. This is the fourth damned time I've had to say it. Yeah, you get it.

**Chapter 4**

"_Itachi-san," he greeted calmly, showing no sign of hostility. "Let us talk in my office. Follow me," he then turned, and headed outside, doing nothing to ensure Itachi followed. Itachi was no fool. He knew that if he tried to escape Minato would have his head in an instant. Besides, he was curious as to why he hadn't been stricken down immediately. Instead he was being invited to the Hokage's office to talk. Suddenly, Itachi was unsure about whether or not he'd be punished. He followed Minato all the way up to the Hokage Tower in complete silence, ignoring as best he could the ANBU guard he could feel surrounding them the entire way._

xXx

Itachi barely managed to restrain a nervous twitch as he sat in the chair opposite the Hokage. They'd been sitting in total silence since their arrival ten minutes ago, and the Uchiha heir could feel the tension building. It was only due to years of training his body to gain complete control that he wasn't sweating.

Minato lowered his gaze to the papers at his desk before addressing Itachi. "We have received word that Orochimaru's newly formed village is accepting missing-nin, Itachi-san," he began. "The council, led by Danzo, are pestering me to crush him before he becomes too much of a threat. But I'm still unsure, at the moment. What do you believe we should do, Itachi?"

Itachi was surprised at the question and the Hokage's seeming disinterest in his actions earlier. Fighting to keep his emotions in check, he responded. "Uh…well, Yondaime-sama," he began, unsure of himself. "Orochimaru is possibly one of the strongest ninja alive. To not eliminate him now would be nothing short of foolishness."

Minato smirked at the ANBU captain's brazen response. It was this honesty that he had admired in Itachi since first noticing the Uchiha's prodigal talents. "That, Itachi, is exactly what the council is saying. He's too large a threat to ignore. But what they don't realise is," he said, before unrolling a map and pointing at the various red X's spread around the border of Fire Country. "The moment we focus on a target that has yet to even pose a threat to us, we'll have these weak spots left wide open. This creates the problem of a possible invasion."

Itachi nodded in understanding, but was still confused about one thing. "What does this have to do with me?"

Minato chuckled; the kid was sharp. "The reason I'm telling you this, Itachi-san, is because of your attempted mass-slaughter," Itachi was mildly surprised that the Yondaime had already managed to figure out his intentions from earlier on in the night. "You didn't think I'd assume you were only going to murder one random clan member, did you? Your anger at your clan's foolish pride is no secret, Itachi." He stood from his seat, turning and smiling at his village contentedly. "The reason I'm telling you about Orochimaru is because the reasons between that and your attempted slaughter are similar. You were acting rashly, based on a split-second decision before even thinking of another way to solve the problem."

This left Itachi feeling slightly insulted, but before he could raise an objection, the Yondaime continued. "In Orochimaru's case, instead of eliminating him immediately, and losing any of the valuable knowledge he may have gained in his many years, we could simply plant a spy amongst his village. As I said before, he is accepting missing-nin, so infiltrating his ranks should be simple. We let Orochimaru's village grow, all the while our spies will be rallying allies from within, and when we feel it is time, we crush him."

The simplicity of the plan astounded the Uchiha genius. But despite this, it still retained some brilliance; while Orochimaru may suspect spies inside his village, the idea of there being a coup would be overlooked by him sheerly due to his pride. He was not stupid, not by a long shot, and would probably have different processes to screen for spies before accepting any new Shinobi into his ranks. But if someone could get past this, suspicion would be immediately thrown off.

But still, how was this any relation to him? He received his answer moments later, "As for your situation, Itachi, you are making the same mistake. You're killing off the problem before realising what you have to gain from it. You are the heir, correct?" He smiled at Itachi's nod of affirmation. "Then why not simply change the clan once you are the Clan Head? Why murder the majority of the clan, when you could save many lives by just changing the people themselves? You would not only be ruining your life, but ruining the lives of those you spared, and the strength of the village would be severely diminished. The result of your actions would affect more than just yourself."

Itachi was ashamed to admit he'd not thought beyond the more personal results of the extermination of his clan. He'd let his emotions control him, a rarity for the normally emotionless Uchiha. Keeping his eyes down, Itachi responded. "I-I didn't think of that. I thought…I thought I'd be saving the village, protecting it from the arrogance of my clan. I never realised it would have such large ramifications." He bowed respectfully. "I humbly apologise, Hokage-sama. It was selfish of me to not consider others before acting."

"It is fine, Itachi. You acted based on your emotions – those of which are a powerful tool for any shinobi," He returned to his seat, leaning back and placing his feet on the desk. "But to the point - I would like you to remain an active part of your clan, and provide information for me pertaining to the actions of your father. I suspect he may be dealing with other villages. If this proves to be true, you will report to me first before assassinating him and taking up the role of head of the clan. It is from here that you will be able to change your clan,"

The thought of killing his father sent chills up Itachi's spine, but he knew he'd be able to do it. He'd already planned to, anyway. And this way he'd remain part of the village, and still manage to change the image of his clan. He nodded in agreement. "Hai, Hokage-sama. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, there is one more thing…" Itachi returned to his seat, sure what he was about to hear would not make his day any more enjoyable.

xXx

The sun's rays shone brightly through the half obscured window, forcing the lone inhabitant's eyes to open – albeit, slowly and with much complaint. He brushed a hand through his blonde locks as he rose, his other hand scrubbing his eyes tiredly. Stretching his arms over his head, Naruto glanced over towards the alarm clock sitting on his bedside table. He jumped out of bed, realising he'd woken up only fifteen minutes before his Genin test would begin.

Rushing towards his closet, he quickly threw on whatever he could find before gathering his ninja equipment and rushing out of his room and down the stairs. He was met with the site of his mother, humming a song to herself as she cooked breakfast. Torn between the delicious food and his desire to become a real shinobi, Naruto sprinted past, stealing some bacon before heading towards the training grounds he'd been assigned to. Once on the rooftops, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, hoping to make up some lost time by using this chakra-eating jutsu.

Once he'd Shunshined most of the way there, Naruto felt it smarter to conserve his chakra, and simply ran the rest of the way. Cursing his broken clock, he skidded to a halt in front of his two best friends who were looking at him curiously. He scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Gomen, my alarm clock's broken," he said, chuckling slightly. "Has our Jounin Sensei arrived yet?"

Sasuke smiled at the Namikaze child happily. "Just as we'd expect from you, Naruto." This earned a giggle from Hinata. "No, they've yet to arrive. Lucky for you, or else we might've failed early."

Naruto laughed before rounding on his female friend. "Hi, Hinata-chan! You ready for today?"

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Hai, Naruto-kun. I am certain we will pass." Naruto smiled at her confidence.

The sound of a kunai slicing through the air caused Naruto to react immediately. Pulling out his own kunai, he spun and deflected the blunted object before it could reach his ribcage. Acting on their instincts, Hinata and Sasuke each drew their own weapons and assumed a fighting stance, eyes darting all over the place in search of the mystery attacker.

Naruto reached into his pouch and flung three shuriken at the bushes his would-be opponent hid, knowing they were right on the mark only to have them miss the target completely. Whoever it was they were fighting, they were quick. He suddenly felt a presence behind him, and attempted to spin and slash at his enemy, only to receive a sharp jab to the back of his neck. He crumpled to the ground, fading in and out of consciousness.

Faintly, he could hear Sasuke and Hinata battling their seemingly unbeatable foe. He forced himself to hold himself up on all fours, shaking his head to clear up his vision. He turned and found Sasuke, holding his arm in pain, looking just beyond Naruto's field of vision, shock and recognition showing in his eyes. A quick glance at Hinata showed the same expression gracing her features, mixed with pain at the bruise forming on her cheek. Naruto slowly stood, wincing at the pain in his neck, before turning and facing the man that had put him down so easily.

He too recoiled in shock. Standing before him in full ANBU gear, mask at his feet, was one Uchiha Itachi. Sasuke was the first to recover from his shock, standing up and rubbing his sore arm. He looked at his brother questioningly. "Niisan?! You're our Jounin Sensei? And what the hell was with the attacking? You could've killed us, ya know."

His response was to punch Sasuke in the face, sending him skidding along the ground before he crashed heavily into a tree. Naruto's eyes opened even wider at this. What the hell was going on? Why would Itachi attack them if he were their Sensei? It didn't make any sense.

He didn't know why the Uchiha would do this; all he knew was that he couldn't let his friends get hurt, no matter who it was that was hurting them. Jumping into action, he formed the seal for his Kage Bunshin before sending them to attack the Uchiha heir, hopefully stalling him long enough for Naruto to come up with a strategy.

The real blonde went to check on Hinata, who assured him she was fine. She got to her feet shakily, ignoring the pain in her cheek. The punch had come out of nowhere. She cast a glance to Sasuke who was also standing, still shocked at his brother's callous attack. "You go check on him. I'll distract Itachi until you two are ready to fight," came Naruto's voice, startling the heiress.

She nodded in assent before running off towards Sasuke. Naruto turned towards where Itachi was dispensing of his final clone. He reached into his pouch, pulling out a kunai before throwing it at the Uchiha. The throw was off, flying right over Itachi's head. The Uchiha prodigy smirked at Naruto's terrible aim, before the blonde suddenly disappeared, too quickly for Itachi to follow.

Suddenly, Naruto was behind him flashing through hand seals at an amazing rate. Itachi was only stunned momentarily, before he leapt at Naruto, intent on stopping him from finishing his jutsu. But he was too late; the Jinchuuriki, checking his two friends wouldn't be caught in the blast let lose a humongous gust of wind. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

Itachi was too slow to dodge the attack, so he instead used his chakra to stick himself to the floor. Naruto smirked at this. A pair of hands burst out of the ground, and gripped Itachi's ankles. Another three clones also popped up, and quickly grabbed the Uchiha, binding him to the ground. They held kunai to his throat, threatening him if he moved at all. Naruto approached Itachi, brimming with confidence. He knew Itachi wasn't trying at all; probably just toying with him. But that was his mistake. He'd underestimated the blonde. Now he was trapped, with no way out.

As the winds died down, Naruto glanced towards Sasuke and Hinata, who were also approaching Itachi. Facing his friend's brother, Naruto finally questioned him about the attack. "Why are you doing this, Itachi-san? Why?" Itachi once again didn't reply; he simply stared at Naruto for a second before replacing himself with a log. Naruto cursed, knowing that now the Uchiha had the advantage and could strike at any moment.

"Kuso!" cursed the still confused Sasuke. "Where'd he go? Why's he doing this? It doesn't make any sense."

"Just calm down, teme. We'll ask him once we can stop him. Hinata, activate your Byakugan and see if you can spot him. I'll think of a plan," said Naruto. This would be difficult; even the three of them together had no chance of stopping him.

Besides, all the jutsu he knew were to kill or defend, he knew none that could be used to incapacitate. His Taijutsu would be of no use against Itachi's Sharingan, and Sasuke wouldn't fare much better. Hinata, on the other hand, could probably slow Itachi down enough to get some answers out of him. If she could just close down some of his Tenketsu points they might stand a chance at victory.

Hinata gasped, drawing both Naruto's and Sasuke's attention. "What is it Hinata? Where is he?" questioned Sasuke, determinedly. This was his chance to show his father his true potential. If he and his friends could best Itachi here, his father would have to recognise him as a Shinobi in his own right.

"He's… He's everywhere!" Exclaimed Hinata. Naruto looked at her incredulously. "It's like your Kage Bunshin, Naruto. Except… There are hundreds of them!"

Naruto chuckled, knowing exactly what the Uchiha had done. He pushed his fingers into the necessary seal and yelled, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" There was a large burst of smoke, and suddenly there were hundreds of Narutos.

The clones leapt into the forest with a yell only to be stopped by the sheer killing intent that suddenly washed over them. The clones disappeared, and the three academy students stood stock still. Their mouths were open, eyes wide. Sweat was pouring from them. The pressure was intense.

Their eyes were all drawn to a figure slowly emerging from the forest. Itachi strode towards them calmly, his eyes emotionless. Sasuke could hardly believe his brother would ever harm him or his friends. It was just so…unlike him. He'd been the perfect brother. Why would he now, all of a sudden, turn on him like this? What had driven him to such actions?

Naruto was beginning to panic; losing control of his body like this was not something he'd ever wanted. As the Uchiha drew ever closer, Naruto forced himself to move, slowly at first, but eventually he was able to move himself freely. This didn't seem to bother Itachi in the slightest. He just continued to walk towards them, calm as ever. Slowly, both Hinata and Sasuke were also able to shake off their fear, but were still too hesitant to attack the ANBU. They were beginning to doubt their abilities.

The blonde forced himself out of that way of thinking, instead focusing on how to put his plan into action. "Guys, we've only got one chance of victory," he began quietly. He reached into his pouch for a Kunai, gesturing for the other two to do likewise. "Here's what we'll do…"

Itachi stopped before the three would-be Genin, wondering what they would plan next. He was surprised when they all turned around, gripping two kunai each as if their lives depended on them. It seemed almost as though they were just going to go for basic distraction tactics. Itachi sighed in disappointment; he wouldn't even have to use his Sharingan on them.

Naruto was the first to throw, launching himself into hand seals as soon as he'd thrown them, followed quickly by Sasuke and Hinata. Naruto held the final seal until the Kunai had just passed Itachi, before he yelled, "Fuuton: Kaze no Ijou!" Suddenly, the Kunai were caught up in a whirlwind surrounding Itachi, flying around him at incredible speeds.

Now he understood. The kunai were moving at such a speed, that were Itachi to attempt to escape, he'd be cut to ribbons. So, they would trap him, and then Naruto would likely use his Jutsu to travel underground and finish Itachi. No, that couldn't be it. Naruto wasn't stupid enough to believe he'd stand a chance against Itachi. Then what? Perhaps he'd shrink the whirlwind until the kunai were close enough to cut him? Or even threaten him with that unless he told them why.

Suddenly, Sasuke also began flowing through his own seals - seals all Uchiha knew very well. He landed on Tora, and held it breathing in deeply. Surely Sasuke wouldn't fry his own brother? It wouldn't matter; he could escape if Sasuke tried it.

He was surprised, however, when Hinata suddenly disappeared. How could she have already mastered Shunshin to such a degree as to have eliminated the necessity of smoke? He then felt a familiar presence behind him. It was too close - he couldn't turn in time. His eyes widened in surprise.

Before he knew it, his chakra had slipped away from him, and his arms now hung limply at his sides. He stood still, surprised for a moment, before turning around to find Hinata in a low Jyuuken stance, palms glowing blue.

The wind around them died down, the kunai dropping to the ground with a clang. Naruto and Sasuke approached Itachi and Hinata, remaining wary. "His chakra is blocked off," confirmed Hinata. Naruto finally smiled, knowing he'd outsmarted one of the strongest Shinobi Konoha had to offer. This worried him a bit, but he didn't think much of it. Itachi wasn't taking them seriously, and had seriously underestimated them. He hadn't even activated his Sharingan yet!

Sasuke looked at his brother, confusion evident in his eyes. "Why, Niisan? What's this all about?"

Itachi looked at the three of them, a small smile playing about his lips. "You pass."

The three gaped at him in confusion, before realisation suddenly dawned in their eyes. Sasuke was the first to recover, running and hugging his brother, grinning happily. Naruto and Hinata weren't far behind, all yelling their thanks to the ANBU. Itachi could only smile in response.

Though, one thing still confused him. "Just quickly, how exactly did Hinata-san get behind me? I know she couldn't have Shunshined. It's impossible for anyone to master it this quickly."

Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "That was my idea," he admitted. "I used it at the start of the fight. I threw a Kunai just over your head, knowing you'd assume I just had really bad aim. Just as it disappears from your line of sight, I use Kawarimi no Jutsu to swap places with it. We used the same thing here, except we had the Kunai fly around you, hoping to trick you into believing we'd use a different strategy."

Sasuke stepped forward. "We knew you'd think of other possibilities for the Kunai, so I began using Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu to make you believe those were our real intentions," he turned to Hinata, smiling. "Then Hinata-chan would appear behind you and close all of your Tenketsu points. Brilliant, yes?"

Itachi was amazed at the children's already brilliant teamwork, and at Naruto's ability to think three steps ahead. "Very well done. I must congratulate you three," Itachi said proudly. He could feel the chakra beginning to seep back into his body, his arms finally able to move – albeit slowly and with much pain. "This test was designed to test your teamwork, as that is what all Konoha Shinobi pride themselves on. If you can't work in a team, you will never be a Shinobi of the Leaf."

Naruto nodded, agreeing with Itachi. He'd heard the same speech from his father many times. He'd grown up knowing the importance of teamwork. It was for this reason that he was glad he was on a team with his two best friends; he doubted he'd gel as well with anyone else in his team. He punched the air, happy to finally be recognised as a Shinobi of Konoha.

xXx

The slight shifting of the earth below Kakashi gave away the presence of his foe. Forcing chakra into his legs, he leapt high into the air, using his amplified jump to create some distance between them. Creating a quick hand seal, the Sharingan user slammed his hands against the earth once he landed. The ground he'd previously been standing on let out a puff of dirt and smoke as it compacted, hopefully destroying whoever had been hiding there.

Kakashi wasn't so foolish as to believe that his attack had finished off his tricky opponent, knowing the way his mind worked intimately. He sensed an attack coming from behind him, and ducked under the blow, attempting to sweep his enemy's legs out from under him. The enemy Jounin jumped over the attack, only to take a solid hit to the face. He stumbled backwards, massaging his cheek lightly. Kakashi didn't give him time to recover, following through with a volley of punches to the stomach and head.

His enemy fell to the ground limply, barely being able to move at all. Suddenly, the sound of a thousand chirping birds reached his ears. He looked up in alarm, begging the former ANBU with his eyes. Kakashi smirked from beneath his mask, knowing this fight was over. With a grunt, he plunged the Chidori into his clone's chest, dispersing it in a cloud of smoke.

He straightened up with a sigh. These training exercises were getting boring quickly. His clones could hardly make a decent enemy or training partner, since Kakashi knew exactly how they'd be thinking. He needed to find another training partner, since his old one had been assigned a Genin team. He couldn't hep but chuckle at the poor sap's luck. Itachi had never really been the type to train anyone – well at least not anyone but his brother.

But still, now he needed someone knew to test his limits, to keep him on his toes. Itachi had been a lot like him; graduated early, joined the ANBU Black Ops young, and seen as a Genius by all. A future Hokage in the making. After retiring from the Corps, Kakashi had become lax, hardly ever training. He relied on his various missions to keep him in shape.

Itachi, on the other hand, had kept on training, trying to reach new peaks. After a friendly spar between the two, Kakashi had decided he needed to begin training again, perhaps rejoin the ANBU. So he'd requested Itachi train with him, and the Uchiha had happily accepted.

Now that he'd been forced to take a Genin team, Kakashi found himself unsure of what to do. He'd certainly improved himself greatly since beginning his training, but was he ready to join the Ops again? He seriously doubted it. He began making his way towards the Namikaze Clan grounds, deciding that he'd need some advice from some of his closest friends.

Arriving at the home of his former Sensei and his wife, Kakashi was greeted with the odd site of Jiraiya the Toad Sage attempting to force feed four year old Seikou his lunch.

"Damn it, kid! Just eat the friggin' sandwich," the Sannin growled, attempting to force the meal down the young Namikaze's throat. Kakashi chuckled at Jiraiya, finding it hard to believe that the "Great Toad Sage" was having trouble dealing with a four year old. Seikou giggled mischievously, slipping through Jiraiya's grasp and making his way under the table. "This is why I'm never having kids. A little help please?" He turned to Kakashi.

Kakashi shook his head quickly, knowing that trying to feed Seikou could be hazardous to one's health. There was a giggle from behind him, so he turned to find Kushina standing at the foot of the stairs, giggling at the two Shinobi before her. She walked past the two quietly, and pulled Seikou out from under the table, before handing him the sandwiches and staring at him until he began eating.

"How the hell did ya do that?" demanded Jiraiya, thoroughly embarrassed at having been bested by a child.

The red-head laughed. "I'm his mother," she said simply.

Kakashi chuckled at the indignant look on Jiraiya's face, causing the Sannin to turn towards him questioningly. "What're you doing here, anyway, Kakashi?"

"Just stopping by for a visit," he stated. Kushina and Jiraiya stared at him incredulously. "Alright, I just need some advice. I'm wondering if I should join the Black Ops again,"

Jiraiya smirked, knowing how hard Kakashi had been training. "You think you're ready for that, Kakashi? You sure look like you've packed on the pounds, eh?"

Kakashi chuckled at his favourite writer. "You can think that if you like, Jiraiya-sama. It's not uncommon for people to become delusional at _your _age,"

Kushina braced herself for the approaching storm, knowing that this would probably result in Kakashi's untimely death. She briefly wondered if that Sharingan of his could be transplanted a second time?

"What was that, Kakashi?" Jiraiya replied, a dangerous edge to his voice.

Kakashi returned his stare just as intensely. "You heard me. You're delusional, _old man_."

That was the last straw.

"Alright, that's it. Get outside, we're gonna settle this once and for all, ya little punk."

Jiraiya turned and headed for the Namikaze clan training grounds, muttering to himself about kids and their damned attitudes. Kakashi wasn't far behind, cracking his knuckles in preparation for the oncoming fight. Kushina wasn't sure what could possibly be going through his head; he was about to get his ass kicked by a Sannin, after all.

Once they'd left the house, Kushina reached into the bottom draw for Minato's emergency Hiraishin kunai, before tossing it lightly at the target next to the door. There was a flash of yellow, and Minato was there almost instantly. "What's wrong? What happened? What'd they take?" he rushed out anxiously.

"Kakashi and Jiraiya," answered Kushina, pointing in the direction of the training grounds.

Minato sighed irritably, "Again?" he questioned. At his wife's nod he shook his head, before slowly making his way to where he could hear explosions taking place.

How two people could possibly grate at each other's nerves so much, while being so similar in their perverted ways, Minato would never know. It was probably the white hair, he decided. With a grunt, he leapt down to intercept the two A rank Jutsus flying at their opponent's heads.

xXx

Uchiha Itachi made his way out of the Hokage tower in search of his newly created Genin squad, one of the youngest collective squads ever. His meeting with the Hokage had ended oddly, with the Yondaime having to rush home due to some emergency. But Itachi had still gotten what he'd requested.

After reporting the success of the three Genin in passing his test, he'd requested that they get a field mission so that they could get some real combat experience. Minato had been a bit reluctant to hand out such a mission to so young a Genin team, but at Itachi's persistence finally gave in.

They'd now been assigned a C rank mission to capture a group of Bandits that had been terrorising Konoha's trade route to and from Sunagakure. Itachi thought this would be a good chance to give his three Genin some actual experience in battle. It wouldn't be too difficult for them, as they were only bandits, but it wouldn't be so easy as to not challenge them at all. He smiled; perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as he'd originally thought.

xXx

The dripping of water echoed across the darkened cave, the only source of light being the glowing holograms standing on the finger-like shapes of a giant statue. These holograms seemed to take the shape of ten different people, their forms differing greatly. All their attention seemed to be on one of them, however.

His voice was deep, and carried an air of authority in it, his eyes glowed maliciously. "We have received word that the nine-tails will be leaving Konoha on a mission," he began. Looking around the room, his eyes settled on the two immortals of the Akatsuki. "You two are to capture him. Eliminate anyone who gets in your way."

x

xXx

x

**A/N:** There we go. I'm happy with this chapter. It's a bit shorter than the last two, but I think it has a lot more to it. I could've extended it a bit with certain events, but I think this was a good spot to stop. Mostly cause of an awesome cliff hanger. Well, I think it's awesome. The next couple of chapters are, hopefully, really going to pick it up. I've planned the entire story out now, so I know where everything's going. So that's good.

I know that I've moved the Akatsuki's activity up by a couple of years, but it's really necessary for what I've got planned. Trust me when I say it's all way worth it.

And just so everyone knows, that Kakashi and Jiraiya bit has a purpose. You'll see in the next chapter, hopefully.

**Reviews:**

**Chronostorm:** Yes, I'm up to date with the Chapters. And while I'm not happy with Itachi's end, I do like how he's been portrayed and why he did it. My story will have a couple of things happening similarly to canon, though there will be a couple of major differences. I won't say what, or how. But if you keep reading, I can assure you, you will find out.

**Dragon Man 180:** Yeah, I know. Thanks. With the way I've planned things, Orochimaru won't be playing as large a role as he did previously. But don't worry; Minato won't be some omniscient God-like ninja. He's still extremely powerful, but he's human and makes mistakes. He _is _fallible.

Now finally, I'd just like to thank people for reading this story, adding to story alerts, favourites or that kind of thing. But I'd still appreciate it if I could get some reviews from these people. I have about forty odd people who've added this to story alert, but only twenty reviews in all. So yeah, I don't mean to be pushy or anything, but I love hearing about my story, and any advice will be taken into consideration.

Today's inspirational song: 'My Darkest Hour' – Scary Kids Scaring Kids


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. Never have, never will.

**Chapter 5**

"_We have received word that the nine-tails will be leaving Konoha on a mission," he began. Looking around the room, his eyes settled on the two immortals of the Akatsuki. "You two are to capture him. Eliminate anyone who gets in your way."_

xXx

Naruto whistled jauntily as he made his way to the village gates, a pack slung over his shoulder. He was wearing his usual attire minus the flame-tipped coat similar to his father's. He'd decided that, despite how totally awesome he looked wearing it; it wasn't worth his presence being given away by its constant rustling.

Spotting the gates just ahead of him, and his team already waiting for him, Naruto leapt down from the building, landing gracefully in front of Hinata. Looking up from his crouched position on the ground, Naruto couldn't help but wonder how cool he must look, even without his coat. Judging by the twitch in Sasuke's eye, it must have looked really, really cool. He smirked, before standing up and greeting his team.

Itachi chuckled at the blonde's antics, having gotten used to his odd quirks after all the times Sasuke had had him over. Clearing his throat, he began explaining their mission to the young Genin before him. "We have received word from Hokage-sama that there are some minor bandits robbing any and all wagons passing via the Northern trading route with Suna. Our mission is to capture them," he began. "There are no ninja with them, so it should be fairly simple. It's about a day's time travelling if we keep a good pace, now move out."

Sasuke nodded, before following his brother into the trees bordering the wall around Konoha. Hinata and Naruto weren't far behind. Once in the trees, the group began making their way towards their destination in a diamond form. Itachi lead them, with Hinata and Sasuke just behind him side by side. Naruto was at the back to defend from anyone who might attack from behind, though this was more for practice than anything else.

They sat down for lunch after two hours of straight running, Hinata and Sasuke only lasting this long due to the easy pace Itachi had set. Naruto naturally had energy to burn, and so while the others were resting, he found himself quite restless, wanting nothing more than to keep moving until they found and pummelled their enemies. Itachi ruffled the child's hair, telling him to calm down. "At this rate, we'll be near where they were reported to be before nightfall. That is, of course, if these two don't require too many rest breaks," he teased light-heartedly.

Sasuke had the decency to look offended at this, before he and Hinata both leapt to their feet to show they could continue. "Alright then," said Itachi. "Let's be off, then. Not much longer until we've reached our destination." They once again took to the trees at this, more determined than before to find these bandits and show them what-for.

xXx

Uchiha Fugaku slowly made his way down one of the many hallways that littered the Uchiha compound, his ever-present scowl more pronounced than ever. Meetings with the elders never resulted in anything good for either Fugaku or the clan. He stopped before one of the screens, indistinguishable from any of the others next to it. Knocking on the wooded frame, he waited patiently for his call to enter.

Sliding the door shut behind him, the Uchiha head knelt on the lone mat in front of him. He found himself very uncomfortable under the stares of all six of the Uchiha elders. Shifting in his position, he turned the voice that addressed him.

"Fugaku-san," it greeted indifferently. "The council wonder of Itachi's process with the Mangekyou Sharingan?" The man who'd greeted Fugaku wore identical grey robes to the other five members. He was by far the oldest there, though his white beard was the only thing that belied his age.

"I am unsure as of this moment," began Fugaku hesitantly. "He has taken the scrolls for training, and has likely figured out which techniques his eyes contain. But I myself am unsure."

The bearded man frowned, his disapproval apparent in his voice. "We are displeased, Fugaku. We did not gift young Itachi the highest form of our Doujutsu for him to waste its great powers." The other members of the council mumbled in agreement.

Sighing in frustration, Fugaku had to agree. "Yes, it was very generous of the council to sacrifice Shisui to further advance our young prodigy, especially since Shisui was an exceptional warrior in his own right," Meeting the steady gaze of the elder, he continued. "But Itachi is not wasting his talent. He's made his way into the Hokage's good books. He's keeping us strongly connected to the village. Surely he is able to fulfil his purpose now, even without the Mangekyou?"

His question was met with much debate, but their leader quieted them with movement of his hand. He turned back to Fugaku. "Yes, he may still be able to do as we desire. Just remember, Fugaku-san, keep a tight leash on him. We do not want him betraying us in the future."

Fugaku nodded in agreement, before the elders continued onto more pressing matters.

xXx

Peering over his shoulder, Hidan couldn't help but sigh. Why did that bastard of a leader pair him with such a blasphemous bounty hunter? Kakuzu seemed to only care for money, and was willing to do anything to get it. He admitted there was some logic in their partnership. Kakuzu often had fits of rage in which he usually killed his partner, so Hidan's immortality was definitely a necessity. But still, the fucker was constantly getting on his nerves, and Hidan often toyed with the idea of killing him.

Kakuzu himself seemed completely enthralled with their destination. Apparently, Konoha was home to many Shinobi with extremely high bounties, none higher than the Hokage himself, who came in at an astounding five-hundred million Ryou. The man was practically frothing at the mouth at the prospect of making such a kill. Hidan chuckled to himself, knowing that Kakuzu wouldn't stand a chance against the Yondaime Hokage. He was glad he wouldn't have to face him personally when he took the Kyuubi container.

He would be Pein's problem. Once the infamous Yellow Flash of Konoha realised his son had been taken, he would no doubt do whatever he could to recover him. And if that failed, avenge him. Hidan's smirk widened. Then he would finally be able to measure his leader's power.

His thought were cut off when he spotted the peaks of the Hokage Monument rising over a hill in the distance. Eyeing his partner warily, he moved forward. "Remember, fuckwit, we're here for the Kyuubi container. Don't run off and fuck this up for us by trying to claim a bounty you're too shit to beat,"

Kakuzu glared at the silver-haired man. "Who do you think you are to order me around, kid?" He felt his anger rise, his black threads beginning to loosen in preparation for an attack. "You open your mouth again; I'll rip you to pieces,"

Hidan frowned at the thought, knowing it wasn't an empty threat. It had happened before, and while he may enjoy pain to the point of actively inflicting it upon himself, it was never pleasant losing control of his body after literally losing his head. But still, he was too proud to let the Taki shinobi get the last word in. "Get fucked, asshole. I could kill you in a fucking instant."

That was all Kakuzu needed to hear, his threads lashing out at Hidan, gripping his limbs tightly. Hidan winced, knowing decapitation was imminent.

Kakuzu prepared to rip his 'comrade' to bits when he suddenly felt an enormous chakra presence, accompanied by three other minor ones. He froze, dropping Hidan in a heap. The presence suddenly disappeared, but the other three didn't. They continued to approach at a steady pace.

That must be the Genin team the Kyuubi container was on. And the fact that the strong presence, probably the Jounin Sensei, suddenly disappeared meant he'd sensed both he and Hidan, and suppressed his chakra.

The chakra he'd felt had been more powerful than he'd anticipated out of the Shinobi of the Leaf, besides their Hokage. He was even more surprised when the chakra of the three Genin also disappeared.

Hidan noticed his partner's sudden distractedness, and wondered, despite his relief and not being decapitated, what had caused such a reaction. "Oi, fuckwit," he said, only to be met with silence. "Oi, fuckwit! Answer me when I'm fucking talking to you!"

"Hidan," he said quietly, while at the same time forming a body of thread for one of his masks. "I believe we've found our target." Turning in the direction of Konoha, he began silently heading towards his foe, sending his masked heart ahead of him.

xXx

Itachi grinned, knowing he would at last get the challenge that would force him to use his Mangekyou. He would finally be given a chance to test his powers, and at the same time introduce his new Genin squad to the reality of a ninja career. This wasn't something he was looking forward to doing, but it was necessary. They needed to learn what it meant to be a shinobi before they got too far into it.

He blocked out Naruto's incessant chatter, glad that the three were at least able to mask their chakra and hide from their enemies. They knew he was there, and knew that he knew they were there. They'd hidden their chakra the moment Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke had suppressed their own. From what he'd felt, they were nothing he couldn't handle with his new power.

When he sensed them, he'd almost passed them off as more Konoha shinobi, until he realised that the only ninja capable of wielding that much chakra were either in the village all ready, or out on long term missions. And after hearing of Orochimaru's recent activity, he had to be cautious. The fact that they too had hidden their chakra indicated to Itachi that they were enemies.

Before he'd been cursed with his evolved Sharingan, they would've posed a serious threat, one that he wasn't sure he'd be able to make it out of. But with his new techniques, he knew he'd be able to handle them. It was just a matter of protecting the other three.

They were only five kilometres from Konoha, and it would be another hour's walk until they reached where the bandits had been stealing from passing merchants. Itachi estimated they'd reach the bandits before the two presences from earlier, but only barely. He'd probably have the three Genin handle the bandits, only stepping in if the two arrived before they finished.

Nodding to himself, he took to the trees and leapt at an increased speed, followed closely by Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata. He wanted to get there well before the two other ninja, and the only way to do that was to run. He knew the three friends would be able to cope; they'd all been raised in Shinobi oriented clans, and as such had terrific stamina – Naruto more so than the others.

After forty-five minutes Itachi came to a stop, hearing the tell-tale signs of a campfire just ahead. Motioning the others to surround the camp ahead, he moved forward into a position to watch the bandits. He smirked, counting eight bandits all together. That would give each of them two to fight, leaving Itachi with the supposed leader and one other.

They were gathered around the campfire, chatting quietly. The leader didn't seem to be particularly strong, smart or in any way leader-like, so Itachi dismissed him immediately.

The ANBU flashed quickly through the required seals, before launching a massive fireball at the group of tents surrounding the campfire. It exploded in rain of flames, throwing the bandits into the woodlands. There were three blurs that leapt into the clearing following the explosion – the Genin team taking their cue to attack.

Itachi himself landed atop two of his own bandits: the leader and an unknown female. The leader had been knocked unconscious from the blast, while the girl seemed a bit disoriented. She quickly regained her senses, and began to panic upon realising a ninja was attacking. She tried to rush to her feet, but Itachi held her down with his foot.

He slowly bent down until he was parallel with her, before tapping a pressure point on her neck. Her body relaxed in an instant, her eyes fluttering closed. He turned and watched as his team fought the bandits, smiling at how easily they'd adapted to a real battle. This smile, however, immediately turned into a frown as he felt two presences land just behind him.

Turning on his heel, he was forced to dodge a swipe to his chest from a tri-bladed scythe.

xXx

Parrying a strike to his head, Naruto wondered briefly whether or not these bandits had had _any _training whatsoever. The two he was fighting were absolutely pathetic, and that had to be bad as Naruto was an eight year old rookie genin. Deciding he was tired of messing around with the two, he weaved under another punch, before sinking his fist into the first's stomach. Crouching low, he spun, delivering a sharp kick to the side of his head, sending him crashing into another tree.

The second grabbed his arm and tried to turn him only for Naruto to flip and land behind him, striking him in the kidneys, spine and neck all in quick succession. The man crumpled to the floor with a thump.

Naruto turned around to see Sasuke and Hinata in much the same position. He wandered over to them, scratching his chin lightly. "So how'd you two do?" he questioned.

Hinata was the first to answer. "T-They were easily disposed of. I don't think they had much training." Naruto laughed and agreed before turning to Sasuke. Naruto recoiled in shock upon seeing his red eyes, a tomoe decorating each.

Before Naruto could comment on it, Sasuke spoke up in aggravated tones. "I underestimated mine," he said ashamedly, turning away from the two. "He had a sword and almost got my throat. But they both seemed to slow down, after that."

"That's 'cause you unlocked your Sharingan!" Naruto gestured excitedly to Sasuke's eyes. "Where's Itachi-Sensei? You have to show him!"

Sasuke gaped at Naruto before cheering loudly. He couldn't wait to show Itachi and his father. They'd both be so proud. Speaking of his brother, where was he? The two bandits he'd been left with were lying where he'd left them, but Itachi was nowhere to be found. He voiced his question to Naruto, who was no less confused than he.

Deciding to tie up the bandits then search for their Sensei, the genin squad got to work. Once they'd bound their defeated foes, they began their search for Itachi. Their job was done for them, however, when a blast of electricity shot right past Naruto's head. Turning in the direction of the blast, the children found a smoking hole the size of their head in the foliage.

Approaching the hole cautiously, they found their missing sensei confronting two oddly dressed men.

xXx

"I'll ask you one last time," said Itachi calmly. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

The two responsible for the chakra flares earlier were two of the oddest, yet most powerful individuals Itachi had ever seen. They were both dressed in high-collared black cloaks, adorned with red clouds. The taller of the two had a pendant around his neck, along with a hitai-ate from an unknown village. He had slicked back white silver hair and seemed to grin arrogantly, no matter what was going on around him.

The other member of the duo was shorter, and wore a skin tight body suit including a face mask that covered the lower half of his face. The sclera of his eyes were black, with green iris's, and he wore a hitai-ate from Takigakure.

Itachi eyed the mask the latter had released warily. It seemed to be able to control bursts of electrical energy that could be quite dangerous if it made contact. The pair seemed to be familiar to him, he knew he'd seen them somewhere in his Bingo Book, but couldn't place the faces. If he could just learn their names, it would make fighting them a lot easier.

The taller of the two, ignoring his partner's warnings, answered Itachi. "Fine, I'm Hidan, and this dumb fuck over here is Kakuzu," he said motioning to his now irritated partner. "We're here for that little Kyuubi shit head."

Itachi barely restrained the smirk threatening to bloom on his face. Now that he had their names, victory would be a lot easier. Hidan, if he remembered correctly, was apparently immortal, and could use Voodoo like jutsu if he consumed your blood. Kakuzu was also seemingly immortal, containing within his body five different hearts that controlled different elemental attacks. He would have to be the first to go.

"Very well then," was all Itachi said before morphing his eyes into the Mangekyou Sharingan. Black threads erupted from Kakuzu's body, flying towards Itachi, bent on tearing him limb from limb. He drew his wazikashi, and using the Sharingan's amplified vision, weaved his way through the threads, cutting them to pieces as he went. They were thicker than they appeared to be, and seemed to resist any chakra enhanced attacks.

Itachi spotted Hidan leaping over the threads, his scythe drawn back in preparation for a downward strike onto Itachi's head. The threads opened up, giving Hidan space to attack, only for Itachi to jump out, his wazikashi striking between Hidan's defences into his shoulder blade. They both landed precariously, Itachi on top of him slicing his way through Hidan's shredded shoulder. He was forced to dodge both blasts of electricity and Hidan's scythe as he stood.

Leaping backwards to give himself some room, he watched in fascination as Kakuzu's black threads seemed to sew Hidan's arm back into place. This was a most curious discovery, but Itachi wasn't worried. He knew that dismembering Hidan would only be a temporary solution, and he needed to find a way to break him mentally rather than physically, as he seemed immune to all physical damage done. The fact that he seemed to enjoy pain only creeped Itachi out.

His attention was then forced onto Kakuzu's mask as it began firing off bursts of electricity that he had to dodge. His troubles were soon intensified as another mask ripped from Kakuzu's body and began firing off strong gusts of air that Itachi realised he'd be unable to avoid.

He smiled, remembering one of Naruto's favourite jutsu. Creating the seals, he yelled "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!" and disappeared underground, the gust of wind going harmlessly overhead.

Itachi realised he'd have no chance at tricking either Hidan or Kakuzu with this attack, and simply re-emerged once the winds died down. Looking over his shoulder at the damage done by the wind he smiled. "Pretty powerful attack you've got there," his smile widened. "But I've got something more powerful." Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at the raven haired boy's words, and willed his eagle-mask back into him, absorbing it with a shudder.

Hidan stood, flexing his reattached arm calmly. He looked at the trees that had been levelled by Kakuzu's wind jutsu and smirked. That attack wasn't even a portion of what Kakuzu could do, so that threat didn't scare him too much. He turned his eyes to his partner and noticed he was thinking along the same lines.

Their opinions changed, however, once they felt the chakra building behind the Uchiha's attack. Realising their mistake too late, they made a last minute attempt to stop him finishing his jutsu.

Creating the necessary hand signs at an alarming rate, Itachi closed his eyes. Focusing on his chakra, and ignoring his charging opponents, he finally opened his right eye. _Amaterasu._ And suddenly there were black flames, consuming everything in his eyesight.

Kakuzu felt the heat of the approaching flames and immediately knew this was no ordinary fire. His eagle mask shot from his body, black threads creating a form of its own. The eagle mask stood in front of its master, blocking him from the attack. Unfortunately for him, the threads were burnt to a crisp instantly, the heart and mask exploding from the sheer heat.

Kakuzu was shocked; those strings should have resisted any chakra other than his own. For the attack to bring them down, it must have been extremely potent.

Realising the flames were coming straight for him he attempted to outrun them, but didn't make it far before they consumed him, burning each of his hearts in an instant. The mask containing his final heart attempted to return to his body on instinct, only to also be burnt to a crisp.

The strain of the technique caught up with Itachi and he was forced to release it, snapping his eye shut. He opened his eyes to see the results of his attack, only to see the flames still burning.

Hidan swore loudly, Kakuzu had just been completely destroyed in one move. Who was this guy? Just how could he be capable of such an attack? He had to get his blood and end this quickly. With that final thought, he leapt towards the red-eyed Konoha Nin, swinging his scythe at his chest. The Uchiha jumped back before the blade could make it anywhere near him, and began flowing through more seals.

Itachi panted tiredly. Amaterasu had taken up a lot of chakra, but he had enough left in him for his other technique. Settling on a final sign, he opened his previously closed left eye and stared into his opponent's eyes. To everyone else they both seemed to stop in their tracks for a second, but it appeared to the two of them as if they'd suddenly appeared in a completely different world.

The colours of this world were completely inverted, and Hidan found himself tied down to a table. He looked to his left and saw his enemy standing calmly, staring at him. "For the next seventy-two hours," he said. "You will be tortured and maimed in ways never before seen."

Hidan smirked, so this was his technique? Torture? He laughed, "I love pain, you fool. This will do nothing to me."

Itachi chuckled, and suddenly there were hundreds of him, blades drawn. Slowly the original reached his blade over Hidan's face, sliding it up his cheek and towards his eye sockets. Even slower, he dug the blade behind his eyes, eliciting a scream of mixed pain and pleasure, before levering his eye out. He repeated the process with his other eye. Tossing his eyes onto the floor, Itachi stomped on them, turning them to mush.

Hidan screamed at losing his sight. He loved pain - almost craved it. But what he loved more than that was killing people and pleasing Jashin. Without his eyes, both of these would be impossible! His God would deem him unworthy, and end his life. He let out an anguished scream, which only increased as thousands of blades ripped through his stomach.

Then suddenly, his eyesight returned to him. He sighed in relief, and prayed to Jashin that he would never again lose his sight. He turned to the only other occupant in the room, who said; "There are seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds left."

Hidan couldn't help the scream that escaped his throat as the blade inched, once again, towards his eyes.

xXx

Everything was still for a moment until Hidan suddenly dropped to the floor, scratching at his eyes and screaming bloody murder. He slowly slipped into unconsciousness. Itachi dropped to one knee, panting in exhaustion. These techniques were serious chakra drainers, he felt as though he'd been training non-stop for three days straight.

He pushed himself to his feet when he heard more people arrive in the clearing. Opening his eyes, he glanced tiredly towards where Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke had just landed.

They were openly staring at him, mouths agape in awe of the power he'd just used. He could only smile, before he once again dropped to his knees. "Bind the survivor, then we head home," his mind turned to their original mission. "I'm assuming you've bound the bandits?"

Naruto nodded. "Wow…" he whispered to Sasuke and Hinata. "Are you alright Itachi-sensei?" Sasuke rushed past him to his brother, helping him up.

"Yes, I'm fine, Naruto-kun. Just a bit tired; those jutsu took a lot of chakra," he answered.

Hinata pulled rope from her pack, and approached the unconscious form of Hidan cautiously. Naruto followed her quietly, staring in awe at the damage a mere look from Itachi could cause. He helped Hinata tie the cloaked man up at the wrists and ankles, and summoned two clones to carry him.

Behind him, Itachi had just noticed Sasuke's eyes. "You have unlocked your Sharingan, Sasuke-kun," he pointed out. "Well done. I'm proud of you, otouto," he said, ruffling his brother's hair.

Sasuke blushed under his brother's praise. He couldn't wait until his father saw his Sharingan, he'd be so proud! He'd unlocked at the same age as Itachi. Now his father would be forced to acknowledge him! Smiling happily, he hugged his brother who only smiled in response.

xXx

Red eyes glowed malevolently in the darkness of the cage, accompanied by the deep breathing of its sole occupant. Approaching the bars slowly, Kyuubi licked his maw in anticipation of the new arrival. Just outside the cage, hidden in darkness, stood a man not visible to even Kyuubi's enhanced eyesight. The only things visible were the glowing white of his irises. The pupil, a black crescent moon, contracted – the black ring surrounding it expanding.

Kyuubi felt his chakra suddenly disperse, weakness taking over. Surprisingly Kyuubi was not angered by these events, nor was he surprised. He'd sensed this power deep within his container the moment the child had started using chakra, though it had kept dormant until now. The pupil and surrounding ring returned to their original positions, but the pupil began to spin, building up speed steadily.

The ends of the crescent moon met, creating another full ring inside the first, and suddenly a powerful wind picked up. They blew around the stranger harmlessly, amplifying his deep voice. "Kyuubi-san, I believe it is time that we met properly…"

A quiver of anticipation ran up the Kitsune's spine as he felt his chakra return to him. **"Very well, then. I have been looking forward to this,"** he replied, grinning toothily.

xXx

Leaping from tree to tree, Naruto grinned happily at the sight of the gates of Konoha. He turned to his comrades to make a joke, only for a sudden wave of dizziness to hit him. Losing his composure, he overshot the next branch and slammed heavily into the trunk, landing on the ground unconsciously.

"Naruto!" Hinata gasped and darted down to collect him, followed closely by Itachi and Sasuke. Using techniques he'd picked up in the ANBU, Itachi was able to discern that his chakra had stopped and started suddenly in his head, causing slight dizziness. The unconsciousness was due simply to his slam into the tree. Picking him up and placing him on his should, Itachi turned to find Naruto's clones still carrying the bound prisoners.

_It seems Naruto-kun is a lot more complex than I'd ever imagined. How could his clones still be around after he's lost consciousness?_ His eyes flickered to the clone's and widened. So he'd finally unlocked his clan's infamous Doujutsu. Smiling, he took to the trees once again, making his way quickly towards the village. "Hurry Sasuke, Hinata. We must see the Hokage."

Nodding, the two followed, casting the occasional worried glance at their unconscious friend.

xXx

The Yondaime Hokage paced nervously in his office having felt the powerful surges of chakra from here. He knew Itachi would be more than enough to handle the two he'd felt, but he was worried about the state of his son. Especially after the news he'd just received. Itachi and his squad had been spotted entering the village, with Itachi seen carrying an unconscious Naruto.

This worried him more than anything, as this could mean something either very good or very bad, depending on the situation. There was a knock on his door, and suddenly there stood Team Itachi, Naruto in Itachi's arms. "Hokage-sama, I'm sure you felt the chakra…?" At his nod, the Uchiha continued. "There were two of them. I managed to kill one and incapacitate the other. I suggest sending him to Ibiki. He seems like the type that could challenge him,"

Minato was growing impatient. "All right, now show me Naruto." Itachi agreed and laid the boy down on the Hokage's desk. "What happened? Tell me everything," he said, while lifting Naruto's shirt and examining the currently visible seal. Sasuke and Hinata exchanged confused looks, but remained silent.

"We arrived on the camp shortly after sensing the two powerful chakra signatures and hiding our own," began Itachi. "They each took two of their own bandits, while I took the leader. Immediately after incapacitating the leader and his lackey, I was confronted by two men wearing black cloaks demanding Naruto. We fought, and I killed one of them, while knocking the other unconscious. After binding the prisoners, we began heading home. Then suddenly Naruto had a bout of dizziness and jumped into a tree, falling unconscious. His clones remained, however."

Minato seemed unsure of how to feel. On one hand, he was completely ecstatic, but on the other he was extremely worried. It wasn't everyday an eight year old had two men of that calibre after him. He dismissed Itachi, Sasuke and Hinata with a promise of larger cheques due to the complications involved with the mission. Turning to his son, he couldn't help the proud smile that bloomed on his face.

So he'd finally unlocked his clan's bloodline.

The feared Getsueigan.

x

xXx

x

**A/N:** You have no idea how unbelievably sorry I am for how late this chapter's been. I haven't really got any elaborate excuses or anything. I just procrastinated a lot, really. Only 'cause I've had a lot going on with real life, but that's mostly done with now. In the next coming months I'm going to be having my HSC, which will take up a lot of time. Not only that, but the assignments and homework load have increased by heaps. I'll still update as regularly as I can, but I'm warning you. Expect them to be delayed. Kinda like this one.

Now, onto this chapter. I wasn't sure if the Hidan/Kakuzu/Itachi fight was long enough. And I gave Kakuzu some abilities he doesn't use in Canon, but once again they played their part. Not major or anything, just something I wanted to use. Also, if you review, do you think you could comment on my fight scenes? I've never done them before, so I'm not quite sure how I rank when it comes to that. Thank you. :D

There was a major hint in here in regards to a relatively major twist that will happen later in the story. It's canon, if a bit delayed.

The Sunogan… Ah. The name was really, really rushed. I had no idea what to call it, so I just named it "Snow-eye" because of its colour. Really lazy, I know. You'll learn more about it in the coming chapters; its powers, what it looks like, levels and that kind of thing. I've already planned it out. I'm quite happy with it. There were also a couple of hints as to its abilities here, as well.

**Edit:** Altered the name of the Sunogan to the Getsueigan. It means "Moon-eye" and still is mainly due to its physical attributes. Though, it does have similarities to certain abilities the Getsueigan is capable of. You'll just have to wait and see.

**Reviews:**

**Dragon Man 180:** Yeah, the Jiraiya/Kakashi fight was a bit out of canon, eh? But as I said just before that, Kakashi needs to resume his training, and fighting a Sannin is about as close to Itachi as Kakashi's gonna get. I figure he's at least strong enough to pose Jiraiya a challenge, and still learn some valuable lessons. Jiraiya and Tsunade praised him highly in canon, so I figure training with Jiraiya should give him some serious power boosting. He's going to really strong in this, just so everyone knows.

**General:** I'm glad I'm getting such a positive response in regards to Itachi being Naruto's, Sasuke's and Hinata's sensei. I've never seen it done before, and I think it's definitely something that would have made for an interesting storyline, and help a lot with character development. I think the _real _Itachi would have made a great Sensei, and that's something I'm looking forward to exploring here.

Anyway, thanks to the response I've gotten so far. It's been astounding, and I'm so grateful for it. Thanks heaps to my totally awesome beta, Feilyn.

Now please, if you read, then review. I love constructive criticism.

Today's inspirational song: 'Lexington' – Chiodos


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters besides those of my creation.

**Chapter 6**

_Minato seemed unsure of how to feel. On one hand, he was completely ecstatic, but on the other he was extremely worried. It wasn't everyday an eight year old had two men of that caliber after him. He dismissed Itachi, Sasuke and Hinata with a promise of larger cheques due to the complications involved with the mission. Turning to his son, he couldn't help the proud smile that bloomed on his face._

_So he'd finally unlocked his clan's bloodline._

_The feared Getsueigan._

xXx

Running his hands through his blonde hair, Minato sighed. Now that his son had awakened his clans infamous Doujutsu, his training would finally have a focus point. He could learn the Namikaze's adaptive Taijutsu form, some of their more advanced Ninjutsu, and with the added chakra control the Getsueigan would provide him, he could even learn and master some of Minato's own personal techniques.

He grinned proudly at the unconscious form of his son, ruffling his hair affectionately. The only question that remained was; who would be teaching his son the clan techniques? He couldn't do it himself, as he had too many duties as Hokage. The only time he could afford was their morning sessions, and that wouldn't give Naruto enough time to fully grasp the capabilities of his bloodline quickly enough. Especially not with this group out to get him.

Going through a mental list of the most powerful members of his clan, he found there to be very few candidates he could even consider even _remotely _trustworthy enough to train his son. There were very few teachers in the Namikaze clan, generally the parents would teach their children clan techniques, but this would be impossible for Naruto. Minato frowned, as he mentally considered two people in particular; his father, and one of the most prominent prodigies the Namikaze had ever produced.

Casting a considering glance towards his son as if weighing him up, he decided that his father's peculiar training methods would probably be too harsh for Naruto - at least at his age. _Sorry Otousan, _he thought. _You're just going to have to wait a while longer to meet Naruto._ He then turned his thoughts towards the one remaining candidate, and he smiled. The idea of having Honya-chan training his son seemed to be a delightful prospect, his only worry being that he may end up stunting the growth of a master by forcing her to spend her time teaching. The Yondaime shook his head, clearing his head of such thoughts. It would be beneficial to her in the end.

With his decision made, he let his mind wonder to his Sensei who had recently dropped by with information concerning this 'Akatsuki'. From the information Jiraiya had gathered, along with the member that Itachi had managed to capture, Minato could tell that the group was powerful. Apparently, they were made up of a group of S class missing-nins, including Konoha's own Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. This was dangerous enough, as Orochimaru was one of the most powerful Shinobi alive. With him after his son, Naruto's training would have to be stepped up a notch, along with that of Sasuke and Hinata as his teammates.

But what concerned Minato more was the apparent leader of Akatsuki; Pein. From the information Jiraiya had managed to gather, he was viewed by all in Ame as a God, and had thus far managed to back up these claims. He'd managed to completely annihilate Hanzo, the former Kage-Level Ninja of Ame, who successfully fought off all three Sannin. Not only that, but everyone who he'd been connected to was systematically killed. Someone with that sort of power sent a very rare chill down Minato's spine.

Never had he even heard of someone with that sort of power. And now he was, more or less, facing someone of that strength as an enemy. Even with the backing of Konoha, he wasn't sure how he could come out victorious should this Pein decide to come after Naruto himself.

The Yondaime frowned, glancing worriedly at his son one more time. He leant down and brushed a stray hair from his son's eyes. Picking him up, he disappeared in a flash of yellow light, sending his paperwork flying in a blast of wind.

xXx

Opening his eyes, Naruto grunted at the blurry vision his collision with the tree had accosted him. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his sight, only to increase the dull throbbing in his temples. He groaned, before attempting to sit up.

Once in an upright position, the blonde cast a sweeping glance around the room, trying to make out the various shapes in the hopes of figuring out where exactly he was. _Bah, it's no use, _he thought, _I can't see a thing clearly._ He clambered to his feet, holding onto the table next to his seat for support. _A table. That means I'm somewhere with food, _was the only thought his traumatised brain could supply.

He tried walking towards the vague shape of a door, only for his shin to clash with the corner of another shorter table. "What in the name of Kami?!" he screeched. He dropped to the ground rubbing his shin gingerly. Naruto glared at the offending object, chuckling to himself at the scared look it would have on its face if it were alive. _That'll show it._

Naruto's pained cry had apparently attracted someone's attention, as he managed to make out the form of two people glancing through the door-shaped-blur. He frowned - his sight was still too blurry to make out who it was. "Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" asked the one on the left, who bent down and hefted Naruto into his arms. "What'd you do this time, kiddo?"

Recognising his father's voice immediately, Naruto buried his head in his chest, smiling affectionately. "Otousan!" he cried, before looking up to where he estimated his father's head would be. "I can't see, everything's too... blurry."

Minato ruffled his son's hair affectionately, chuckling at his son's childish affection. The person behind him had to suppress a giggle at the ridiculously adorable sight of Naruto clutching at his father's robes and pouting at the loss of his vision. Stepping forward, she cleared her throat drawing attention from both father and son.

"Ah, forgive me son. This is Honya-chan, a master of the Getsueigan," said Minato, gesturing towards the woman standing before him. Focusing chakra into his hand, he waved it over his son's eyes. Naruto gasped at the sensation, and thanked his father immediately after realizing his sight had returned. He then turned to Honya, looked her over and blushed, before burying his head in his father's chest. She was a regular sized girl, seemed to be about fourteen years old, and had purple hair tied up in pig tails, her bangs hiding her eyes. She too seemed to be sporting a blush, though hers was much lighter. She wore a blue skirt, with mesh armour covered by a darker blue, short sleeved shirt. Naruto thought she was pretty.

"Um... Ohayou, Naruto-kun," she greeted nervously.

Naruto dropped from his father's arms, and smiled at her confidently. "Yo!" Minato slapped his forehead in embarrassment, the kid had been spending too much time with Kakashi.

Honya giggled at Naruto's sudden confidence, and bent down so she was eye level with him. "It's nice to meet you, Naruto-kun. Your father's told me all about you." _I wish he'd warned me about your mood swings, though._

Watching the two interact, Minato knew that Honya was the right choice for Naruto's clan Sensei. "Naruto, as I said before, Honya-chan is a master of the Getsueigan," he said. "And since you've just unlocked your own, you are now able to learn some of our more personalised clan techniques."

"This means, Naruto," said Honya, continuing for Minato. "That you can learn our clans personal Taijutsu style, jutsu that require only the highest level of chakra control, and techniques that are made especially for users of the Getsueigan."

Naruto seemed to get more and more excited at the prospect of learning new jutsu, as well as seeing the capabilities of his newly acquired eyes. He was practically shaking as Honya listed off the things he would be learning. Calming himself down, he looked at his father, then at his new Sensei. "When do we start?"

They could only smile in response.

xXx

The next few weeks passed with team seven completing basic missions, with the occasional C rank thrown in. There were no more meetings with any Akatsuki members, and Ibiki's torture sessions with Hidan proved fruitful. They gave the head of Interrogation a chance to hone his skills, and try out different ways to achieve the results he wanted. From what he'd learned, the Akatsuki was made up of, now, eight members, each of them being at least an S-rank missing-nin. The immortal knew little of their leader, Pein, and even less about their objectives other than the collection of the tailed beasts. He'd even given away the location of their hideout.

But finding the base proved to be more difficult than first anticipated. According to the captured Akatsuki member, only those who possessed one of the rings would be able to follow the directions he'd given. And even then, the only way the site would be visible was if your chakra was stored in the group's database, otherwise a warding seal would hide it from anyone else's view. Minato had sent his best sealing experts, other than himself, to check out the wards. They'd been unable to even sense the wards, much less analyze them. Akatsuki was proving to be a difficult and elusive foe, much as Minato had expected.

Back with team seven, their training had progressed splendidly. Naruto and Sasuke had made significant progress with each of their respective Doujutsu, while Hinata's confidence had grown in dramatic leaps, forcing her father to teach her more advanced clan techniques. Her potential was now being measured as even greater than that of her prodigious cousin, Hyuuga Neji. Their training was very advanced for children of their age, but with the Akatsuki after their teammate, Minato felt it was necessary. Even so,the three were handling it spectacularly.

The results pleased Minato, as within the short three weeks they'd been on this advanced training regiment, they'd boosted in strength dramatically. They'd moved from high-genin level to somewhere around low-chuunin, mostly due to the addition of their bloodlines. While this was nowhere near enough for the three of them to defend themselves against any decent member of the Akatsuki, it was still a major part of their development, and Minato was beginning to contemplate sending them to Taki for the upcoming Chuunin Exams.

He was certain the idea of going up a rank would help inspire the three geniuses to train even harder, and possibly push them to becoming even stronger than they were now. The added motivation would be a tool acquirable only with the promise of promotion. Minato liked the idea. He would just have to ask Honya-chan and Itachi-san if they were ready, and if Naruto's use of the Getsueigan was at a high enough proficiency to warrant a promotion.

His mind made up, he sent word to his assistant to gather the two required and have them sent to his office.

xXx

The word Ninja can be translated roughly to mean "Invisible Man". This translation provides people with an understanding of one of the largest aspects of being a ninja. Invisibility or stealth play one of the most major roles for a Shinobi, whether they're spying, setting traps, stalking their prey or assassinating someone. Invisibility requires a mastery of all five of the senses, plus the addition of a Shinobi's natural sixth sense; chakra sensing. If the enemy can hear you, smell you, or even sense you, then your cover is blown. Keeping all of their senses distracted, or unaware of your presence is the only way to achieve success as a ninja during a mission.

Naruto, despite being a normally loud and obnoxious child, was astutely aware of this. Knowing he would have to keep himself hidden from his opponents, he extended his senses as far as they would go in the hopes of feeling them out. He was not so lucky, however, as they too knew of the basic principals of the Shinobi. Choking down a groan of frustration, the blonde mentally went through what he knew about his two enemies. The most alarming thing about the both of them, he found, was that they both had particular abilities that made it easier for them to detect others - especially the white-eyed one.

Leaping silently from his perch to the nearest tree, he created a hand sign, and formed four shadow clones, sending them out to try and lure his enemies into the open. They made no sound as they appeared, nor was there any smoke to announce their creation. With their orders already in mind, the four chakra beings leapt into the foliage in the hopes of catching Sasuke or Hinata off guard. It was unlikely, though. The two were accustomed to Naruto's crafty use of this forbidden jutsu.

Finding it difficult to sense his enemies as it was, Naruto decided to step it up a notch - even out the playing field, as it were. Forcing chakra into his eyes, he activated his Getsueigan. His pupils transformed, the white of his eyes turning black. With another hand sign, the ring surrounding his half-moon pupil contracted, increasing Naruto's sensitivity to chakra. Suddenly he could feel the chakra of not only his teammates, but the suppressed presence of his Senseis.

His eyes widened in realization, and he was forced to leap, making his body go horizontal to dodge strikes to his head and midsection. Rolling to the floor below, Naruto glanced up at his two teammates who smiled at him briefly before moving to engage the other. Watching the skirmish between Hinata and Sasuke, the blonde waited for the opportune moment to strike.

His pupil spinning madly, he began to force Sasuke's chakra into the branch he was perched on. Adding his own chakra to fulfill the required amount of chakra for the jutsu, he began flowing through hand signs. Feeling the slight drain on his chakra Sasuke turned to Naruto, eyes wide. The distraction was enough for Hinata to land a blow to his shoulder, sending him up in smoke. Her eyes narrowed, before she noticed the chakra gathering in the tree branch. She looked at Naruto, just in time for him to yell, "Tenrai Sashiki no Kaze!" Her Byakuugan barely caught the chakra building, before it shot out of the branch, glowing strands of wind pushing her off the branch and cutting her to ribbons.

She landed on the soil below with a gasp of pain, but managed a roll to lessen the damage. Standing up, she caught a flash of black before Sasuke swiped at her with a solid roundhouse kick. She ducked under it and struck out at his thigh, adding chakra to the blow purely on instinct. The Uchiha winced lightly before flipping backwards to dodge Hinata's follow up strike.

Everyone stood still, glancing at each other, low in their Taijutsu stances. Naruto had, during Sasuke and Hinata's minor skirmish, taken to the trees. Sasuke activated his Sharingan to match the other two, who already had their Doujutsu active. Hinata and Sasuke shared a glance, before shifting their stances to face Naruto. The Namikaze genius grimaced. This was the law of the jungle: take out the strongest to survive.

Nodding in understanding, he altered his own stance slightly. His Getsueigan had analyzed their Taijutsu forms, and using the Namikaze's own versatile style he could alter his own moves mid-fight to best combat the styles he was up against. With a final glance between the two, Naruto made his choice. He leapt towards Sasuke, sending his two previous clones to distract Hinata with a barrage of shuriken. Sasuke met him half-way, delivering a punch to Naruto's midsection, which he somehow managed to weave his way around with enough pace to deliver an uppercut to Sasuke's chin.

Sasuke was sent flying through the air and attempted to right himself with a flip, only for Naruto to follow up his uppercut with a chakra-enhanced blow to the stomach, followed by a flipping axe-kick to the top of his head which sent him sailing to the ground. He landed with a crack, a minor crater erupting from the force. Naruto landed on the nearest branch and began trying to sense Hinata's chakra using his Getsueigan. From what he could see Sasuke wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, so if he could just finish Hinata the match would be his.

A sudden rush of information announced the defeat of one of his clones, shortly followed by the other. According to the information they'd given the original, Hinata had been forced into a clearing just behind him. Creating a couple of clones to watch Sasuke - one to dispel itself when he awoke, and the other to distract him - Naruto took off in Hinata's direction.

Apparently his approach had been noticed sooner than he'd expected, as he almost ran into one of Hinata's Jyuuken strikes. Ducking below the blow, the blonde attempted to sweep Hinata's legs out from under her which she easily avoided. Naruto stood and lowered himself into a stance his Getsueigan informed him would be best to counter Hinata's person spin on the Jyuuken, the lavender eyed Hyuuga doing the same. With a final smirk they charged, trading blows and an almost untraceable speed.

Naruto saw an opportunity and pounced, stepping inside Hinata's palm strike and blocking it with a punch to her forearm. Bringing his elbow up to strike her in the solar plexus and begin a finishing combo, he smirked victoriously, only to falter as Hinata did the same. Her left arm swept around from its previous guard and intercepted Naruto's elbow, a chakra covered slap disabling his arm before he knew it. With lightning fast precision, she followed this up with several other strikes to his exposed tenketsu points.

He gasped in pain as he felt his body slacken. He dropped to his knees, giving Hinata the perfect opportunity to deliver the final blow. Naruto's evolved eyes widened, his chakra spiking in desperation. Unbeknownst to him, the ring in his eye had expanded at the spike in chakra, the results only a Namikaze being able to foresee. Hinata's strike landed with a dull slap to the back of Naruto's neck.

Hinata gasped as realization hit her. Her chakra had dissipated. She couldn't control it, couldn't even feel its presence in her body. According to her Byakuugan, her chakra was floating in an aura surrounding her body, seeping slowly out of her tenketsu. The absence of chakra in her final blow had reduced it to nothing more than a barely noticeable slap.

Naruto grinned, slowly rising to his feet again. He'd finally managed it. And according to what Honya-chan had said to him, at his level he should be able to keep her powerless for another five seconds. Knowing that his time was just about up, he forced his Tenketsu open like Honya had shown him, and delivered one final chakra enhanced jab to Hinata's stomach, knocking her out cold.

The blonde dusted his hands off, almost certain this fight should be over. He wasn't entirely sure what the objective of this exercise was, but he figured that eliminating the competition should make it easier for him to win, somehow. He just hoped that they stayed eliminated long enough for him to figure out how to end the fight.

Looking around, Naruto faltered for a second before turning around to welcome the new arrivals. "Itachi-Sensei, Honya-chan," he greeted jovially. "What brings you here? Admiring my handiwork?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow at his clueless student. "You never pay attention, do you Naruto-kun?"

Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah... Sorry about that. So how do I win exactly?"

Sighing, Honya addressed the child in a way she knew would frustrate him - like he was a child. She dropped to one knee so she was on the same level as him. "Listen sweety," she began in a mothering tone. "When grown ups like Itachi talk, it's _really _important that you listen. Understand?" Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but Honya cut him off. "Now, if you really wanna know how to finish this little exercise here, why don't you give Honya-neesan a little kiss on the cheek, hmm?"

This caused Naruto to blush, and clench his fists indignantly. "You wish you were that lucky," he said in a strangled cry.

Itachi sighed at the two's childish behavior. "To finish the exercise, Naruto-kun," he interrupted. "Your teammates must remain incapacitated long enough for you to land a hit on either me, or Honya-san."

Naruto gulped at the thought. He'd seen both of his Senseis training, and even watched as Itachi killed one of the most powerful ninja he'd even seen with nothing more than a look. Having sparred with them before, he knew they wouldn't do too much damage to him. But it was still an intimidating thought, none the less. Gathering every ounce of courage he could muster, he nodded before sinking into the most applicable stance his Getsueigan could provide him. He knew it would be of little use in this case, as both of his opponents had him far outclassed when it came to speed. While he may be able to see through their Taijutsu, and even think of the best ways to counter with the help of his eyes, his body simply couldn't keep up with it. But he figured he needed every advantage he could get in this bout.

Without Naruto realizing, his stance shifted and adjusted slightly before he charged at the two at a run. Honya had also sunk into a stance very different to Naruto's, while Itachi simply watched Naruto's approach amusedly. Ducking under the blonde's first kick, he head butted him in the gut causing his eyes to roll into the back of his head. Itachi didn't so much as flinch when the clone burst into smoke, choosing instead to look at Honya curiously.

Honya saw this but didn't react, choosing instead to turn to the side slightly. Her front foot pulled back before she launched herself forward with a double-fisted strike, seemingly into mid air. There was a loud thump, and two of Naruto's clones appeared on the ends of her fists before they too burst into smoke.

She resumed her normal stance, facing into the depths of the forest, eyes unwavering. Itachi too seemed to be staring at exactly the same spot, his lips twitching into a grin as he made out the barely noticeable hand signs from a distance. There was a cry of "Fuuton: Tenrai Rakka!" and the air around Itachi and Honya grew heavy, the weight rising by hundreds of pounds in mere seconds. The trees around them began to creak and bend under the weight, while the ground compacted, letting out puffs of dirt. The two hardly seemed effected by the sudden increase in pressure, Honya only shifting herself into a lower, wider stance.

From his perch in the trees, Naruto found himself getting more frustrated by the minute. That move, while not at its strongest, should have been enough to at least unbalance the two. If he could just unbalance them, it would be a lot easier for him to land that needed blow.

Using his Getsueigan, he felt the chakra being used to create the pressure and somehow managed to find a weak spot in it. The chakra was a lot denser around the outside of the area effected by the jutsu, and less concentrated at the center - where Itachi and Honya were located. Grinning at this bit of information, he began trying the basics of his chakra manipulation. He began by swirling the chakra, his pupil spinning along with it. Then with a final grunt, the pupils shrank, the chakra in his Tenrai Rakka focusing on Honya and Itachi.

This brought a much more welcomed result, both Jounin wincing under the added weight, Honya even gasping and collapsing to the floor. The only problem was, the concentration of the jutsu would only work for a maximum of ten seconds at Naruto's level, but that should be more than enough. Without warning, four Shadow clones Naruto had hidden under the earth earlier erupted from below the two, fists drawn back in preparation for a punch. Before they could even swing, however, the pressure disappeared and Itachi exploded into motion, destroying the clones in less than a second.

He leveled his stare directly at Naruto, who remained hidden in the bushes, almost as if challenging him to do better. The young Namikaze sighed, punching the tree next to him, his stealth forgotten. Itachi already knew where he was. Deciding to take a more direct approach, he dove into the clearing and landed in another different stance. He frowned at this difference in form; his Getsueigan wasn't supposed to supply him with a different stance for the same opponents. It was supposed to supply him with the best Taijutsu form he knew to combat his opponents', and the best didn't change so quickly.

Honya picked up on this and smiled. "I should've realized this sooner." Raising herself out of her stance, and she chuckled when Naruto slid into another one used previously against Sasuke, though this one much lower. "Two Namikaze, quite simply put, cannot have a Taijutsu fight with each other," she informed Naruto. "With the constantly shifting stances, you'll never stay in the same form for more than a moment, and eventually your brain confuses itself with the different styles and you're left with the base style, which is almost useless against any decent fighter." She turned to Itachi, blushing slightly. "Gomen, Itachi-san. I'll have to leave this to you," and with that said, she leapt into the trees.

Itachi paid her no notice, keeping steady eyes on Naruto. Finally deciding to step it up a notch, he slid into a stance not dissimilar to Sasuke's. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Naruto, fist reared back. Naruto could instantly see at least three ways to counter attack, but before he could move an inch in any direction he'd been slugged hard across the face. He could feel his body strain under the pressure of the blow. Before he could react, he was struck again, three times in succession before Itachi blasted him with one final punch to the face which sent him soaring into the forest.

He crashed into a thick oak with a sickening crunch, before he slid down the trunk landing in heap below. He remained still for several moments before he opened his eyes, and willed his body to stand. Rising slowly, he groaned in pain. He'd broken three ribs from what he could tell, as well as a possibly fractured femur. Limping gingerly towards the clearing, the only thought he could muster was; _One hit, and I can end this._

Itachi wasn't fazed at Naruto's determination, nor at his sudden appearance in the clearing - despite his worse for wear look. "Well done, Naruto-kun, you've done well," he began appraisingly. "Unfortunately, I may have... Overdone things a little bit. I'll have to end this, now."

With a final proud look he disappeared, and reappeared behind the blonde, a finger poking at a pressure point in the back of his neck. The blonde dropped to the ground in a heap.

"I-Is he alright? I think you may have gone too far, Itachi-san..." whispered Honya, the worry evident in her voice.

He smiled sadly at the unconscious form of his student at his feet. "It was a lesson he needed to learn. A lesson all three of them needed to learn." He faced a seemingly empty spot in the foliage behind Honya. "Unfortunately, Naruto took you out before you or Hinata could learn it, didn't he otouto?"

Honya wheeled around and smiled at the sore form of the prodigious Uchiha - the younger one. "Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?"

She was met with a blank stare, before Sasuke forced his eyes onto the unconscious form of Naruto. "You did that to Naruto all in the name of a lesson?" he asked incredulously. "W-What lesson could be worth that kind of beating? Wait... He's still alive, right?" He began to worry at the blank look in Honya's barely visible eyes. "Right?!"

"Huh?" Asked Itachi. "Oh, right. Yeah, he's alive. Honya-san, heal him and Hinata then wake them up." He leveled an amused look at his brother. "_Then _I'll teach you the lesson."

Honya giggled at the brotherly-hate-stare Sasuke leveled at Itachi, before waving glowing green hands over Naruto's ribs and legs, along with wrapping a couple of bandages to support still tender ribs. She then flicked his ear before moving onto Hinata, who only required some minor bruise and cut healing before she was up and running. Once everyone was up, they stood in front of Itachi, their stances speaking of their exhaustion.

"You've fought well," began the former ANBU captain. "But this training was more than just a simple sparring exercise. There was a lesson to be learned here, by all of you. Unfortunately, Naruto was the only one who had a chance to learn it. Any ideas, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, thinking hard. He couldn't seem to put his finger on it. He was silent for five minutes or so before Honya decided to help him along. "Okay, there are actually a few lessons here, one of them that only you three and your clans would be able to learn."

Naruto struggled to find any connection between the three, other than them being the most epicly awesome eight-year-olds in the world. Sasuke on the hand was a bit sharper. "Our Doujutsu. You don't want us relying on them so much."

"Correct," said Itachi with a nod. "This applies to you especially, Naruto. You seem to have taken to your Getsueigan like flies to... well, you. But you must not rely on it as much as you do. A bloodline is nothing more than a tool a ninja can use to make their jobs easier, and make themselves deadlier. As with any other tool, if you rely on it too much the moment it's made useless you are defenseless. You were a splendid ninja before you unlocked it, and I don't want you to grow up depending on your eyes to win battles. You must learn to fight without it."

Naruto's eyes hardened, and he nodded seriously. "Hai, Itachi-Sensei."

"The other lesson was more an impromptu one. One that I decided to throw in at the last moment, against Naruto. That being deception." At their confused looks, he shook his head. "We are Shinobi. Our top priority is to complete the mission. Anything we can do to complete the mission without endangering our comrades is well within our bounds. Deception is another of our tools. When I told you you had to fight Honya-san and I to complete this little exercise, you assumed I would go easy on you to make it possible. This was not true, and a stupid assumption based on little to no evidence. I was an enemy, I sought to prevent you from achieving your goal. I had no reason not to try my hardest to stop you. You should never assume anything about an opponent, nor believe anything they say without good reason."

The three genin found themselves speechless. They'd known from the moment they'd been able to talk that being a ninja wouldn't be a pleasant job, but never had they had the truth laid in front of them so plainly.

Honya glared at Itachi, but had to agree with him. "He's right, unfortunately," she said in a somber voice. "But a ninja's life is not all death and destruction," she said reassuringly. "We have to have lives at home to keep us sane. Things we do for fun. For instance, c'mere Naruto, and gimme that kiss on the cheek!" She shouted before running at the now alert Naruto, arms wide. He retreated, blushing madly and scared out of his wits. Hinata giggled at the display, but for some reason was slightly upset by it. Sasuke chuckled at Naruto's hesitance, and even Itachi managed a smile.

"Alright, well done for today anyway," announced Itachi once Honya had caught Naruto. "Let's head back, now." Everyone agreed, including a blushing Naruto who had managed to barely pry himself from Honya's arms.

The five began making their way towards the village, all chatting amongst themselves, apart from the ever-stoic Itachi. It was just before the gates that Itachi noticed a member of his old ANBU squad stalking them.Turning his head slightly, he managed to spot Hawk gazing at him from the treetops. Once he'd gained Itachi's attention, Hawk made a single hand sign, before turning and leaping towards the village at top speed.

Itachi pulled Honya ahead of his students and relayed the meaning of the hand sign to her, before falling silent once again. She nodded and dropped back to where Naruto was looking at her curiously. He'd noticed the exchange but let it drop, deciding to question Honya about it later.

Once past the gates, Itachi and Honya turned to the three, silencing them. "Honya-san and I have matters to attend to. You three may have the day off," was all Itachi said, before he disappeared with a wave.

Honya smiled at the genin, before she too turned and left with a cheerful, "See ya, kids!"

Sasuke just shrugged before leading his teammates towards Ichiraku's, his stomach demanding the finest miso ramen he could find. Internally, he cursed Naruto for getting him addicted to those damned noodles.

xXx

"Bah, where is it?" muttered Minato to no one in particular. Shoving another pile of paper away, he began rifling through the next, his eyes glancing only at the title of each page.

Itachi shifted uncomfortably, looking at Honya out of the corner of his eyes he noticed her fidgeting awkwardly. Deciding to try and end this awkwardness, he spoke up. "Uh... What exactly are you looking for, Hokage-sama?" he questioned.

Minato didn't look up from the papers in front of him, only glancing at Itachi before saying, "I'm contemplating entering your team into the upcoming Chuunin Exams."

Itachi wasn't surprised. He'd expected it, as his squad was probably one of the more talented teams around, even considering their age. They could probably take on most Chuunin and come out victorious. Though, he was a bit hesitant to allow his team to travel all the way to Taki with the Akatsuki on the loose. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to defend them against some of the more powerful members of the group. He'd heard they were all S-class missing nins, making them some of the strongest ninja around. And those weren't odds he liked.

"B-But Hokage-sama! What about the Akatsuki? T-they'll come after Naruto-kun!" said Honya, voicing Itachi's thoughts. "And isn't it supposed to be up to the Sensei to nominate their team?"

"Usually," responded Minato offhandedly. "But in this teams case, advancing their training as soon as possible is necessary. Giving them the motivation of promotion, as well as the additional field experience being a chuunin will grant them will be the best way to strengthen them." He pushed away another pile, and moved onto the next. Almost immediately he cheered in victory. "Aha! There you are!" he exclaimed, waving a piece of paper over his head excitedly.

Itachi couldn't fault his logic, but was far too curious about the sheet of paper to say so. "What is that?" he asked, looking at the paper interestedly.

Minato grinned wickedly, and hugged the paper to his chest. "Wouldn't you like to know," he replied mischievously. "Anyway, about the Akatsuki, I'm not worried about them. If I decided to send your squad to Takigakure, you would be accompanied by Jiraiya. I think you three should be more than capable of handling a couple of S-class criminals. After all, they only travel in pairs according to Hidan."

Honya nearly swooned at the thought of meeting the legendary Sannin, but then realized that meant she might have to fight S-class criminals. "H-Hokage-sama! You can't send me! I've only just made Jounin! There's no way I can take on an S-Class ninja!" she wailed.

Minato chuckled, "You need to be more confident, Honya-chan. This would be great experience for you. And I'm sure Itachi and Jiraiya would have some great stuff to teach you," he said. Honya looked at him suspiciously, certain he was trying to bribe her. "But moving on, before I decide to send them to Takigakure I need to ask you two, do you think they're ready? How are they coping with the training?"

Honya straightened up, her expression turning serious. "Naruto's ability with the Getsueigan is still that of a novice, though he has progressed at an abnormally fast rate. He's able to utilize the manipulation aspect of the Doujutsu," she said, her tone clinical. "His ability where this is concerned is still very limited, however. He's able to use probably 10 of the amount of chakra I myself am able to use. His talent lies with Ninjutsu concentration. He's able to find weaknesses in jutsu quickly, and find ways to strengthen them to the point of being able to do damage equal to a higher-chuunin." She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "I've also found that he's been relying far too much on his Getsueigan, but I think that's just due to it being new. With time, he should be able to fight well without relying too heavily on his eyes."

"Hmm... Not bad. With the added motivation of the Chuunin exams, and some harder training over the next month this could be improved greatly," responded Minato after a second. "What about the Taijutsu? And the techniques?"

Honya couldn't help but grin widely at that. "He's picked up the Taijutsu style very, very quickly," she responded proudly. "He's able to defeat Hinata two times out of three, now. And that's quite a feat considering her skill in the Hyuuga Jyuuken style. As for the techniques, he's able to scatter an opponents chakra for a period of five seconds. While this is still a very short time, it's still impressive. And very useful, as he'd be able to dismantle an enemy's jutsu mid-attack."

Minato smiled at this information. "So, would you recommend him for Chuunin?" She nodded. "Excellent. Itachi, what about the team itself? How are Sasuke and Hinata faring?"

Itachi took a deep breath before beginning. "Sasuke has achieved two tomoes two his Sharingan, and seems to be well on his way to unlocking the third. His knowledge of jutsu has increased dramatically, as have his chakra stores - though they are still nowhere near that of Naruto's. His Taijutsu has also improved, though he is still unable to defeat Hinata, much less Naruto. The Jyuuken style is just too fluid." Minato noted, with a grin, Itachi's momentary frown at this bit of information, certainly not happy at the one weakness of his Doujutsu. "Hinata has, according to Hiashi-sama, improved a great deal in her Jyuuken, as well as mastering some of the more powerful techniques of her clan, including the Hakke techniques."

"Interesting..." Murmured Minato to himself. Tapping his chin, he met Itachi's obedient stare. "What about their teamwork? Is it good enough to warrant a nomination for Chuunin?"

The Uchiha chuckled at this. "Their teamwork is flawless, Hokage-sama. They are more than ready for Chuunin," he answered. "They each have the ability to lead, though Hinata's seems to stem from confidence she gains from Naruto's praise."

The Fourth laughed and suppressed a girlish squeal of "Kawai!". "Well, that's certainly interesting. I'm still a bit hesitant, however. How about I give you three a hard C rank mission. Should they complete it, they're nominated. How's that sound?" At their nods, he continued. "Awesome. Okay, Honya could you please get the three and tell them to prepare for a difficult protection mission, they'll be leaving tomorrow," she nodded, and left with a bow. "Itachi, I believe it is now time for us to discuss more personal matters," said Minato, suddenly serious. He placed the sheet of paper he'd been hugging before in front of the Uchiha.

Itachi's expression turned grim, his eyes hardening.

xXx

As she exited the Hokage tower, Honya had to suppress a girlish squeal. She hated how fan girlish that seemed, but she couldn't help it. She was going to be meeting one of the Legendary Sannin! She knew she couldn't make a big deal out of it in front of Naruto, especially since he'd trained with Jiraiya on more than one occasion, but that didn't mean she couldn't celebrate internally. Calming herself down, she began focusing on the task at hand. The only question was, where were Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata? Her first thought was the Namikaze Clan Grounds, but she dismissed that thought immediately; Naruto never returned home straight after training. The first thing on his, and now Sasuke's mind was food. And everyone knew what his favorite food was.

Her decision made, she began making her way towards the only ramen stand in Konoha that made the ramen well enough to keep Naruto hooked - Ichiraku's. She still had some time before she would make it to Ichiraku's, so Honya began thinking about the past few weeks, and how she'd become somewhat of a surrogate Sensei for team seven. It had been awkward at first, but she felt that she now had a solid place on this team, and was really happy with how they were progressing.

Her thoughts moved to the strangeness of Naruto. He was certainly and odd child; he could go from being childishly naive to dead serious in a heartbeat. Sometimes he had this adult-like maturity about him, and Honya wondered whether it had anything to do with the influence the Demon Fox had on him.

The Kyuubi's presence would have to have had adverse effects on the child's growth. Some things were more noticeable than others. Things like his abnormal stamina, freakishly large chakra stores and his whisker-birth marks stuck out like a sore thumb. But Honya believed there would have been other side-effects of the Kyuubi's presence. According to Hinata, Naruto's chakra system was normal, although there was occasionally red chakra mixed in with the usual blue of a human. This was undoubtedly due to the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

But his mood swings? How could they be attributed to the Kyuubi? Certainly, he'd had more training, seen more combat than anyone his age would have to see. But Itachi had been through so much more by Naruto's age, and the only sign of this was the emotionless way he dealt with his enemies. And even that was only when he was on a mission. Perhaps the effects varied between people? Naruto certainly seemed to change when in battle. Although the only times Honya had seen him in battle were during training, he always seemed more serious than usual. His tone changed, his posture, the way he walked, it was all very scary - almost deadly.

When outside battle, he always seemed like a polite, fun loving prankster. He was rarely angry, and loved more than anything to spend time with his best friends and younger brother whenever he got the chance. Could his change in demeanor possibly be the cause of the Kyuubi's presence? Was Naruto even aware of the Kyuubi? Honya knew that no one had told him of the fox's presence, but had Naruto been contacted by the Kyuubi himself?

It wasn't unheard of. Apparently in Suna, another jinchuuriki by the name of Subaku no Gaara, who had the Ichibi sealed within him, had once been haunted by his tenant. At one stage he'd been unable to sleep and had subsequently become killing machine. It wasn't until later that he'd been calmed down. Maybe Naruto had interacted with the Kyuubi, and that had forced this split personality upon him?

Honya wasn't allowed to continue along this train of thought, as she'd arrived at Ichiraku's to find the very three she'd been searching for, empty ramen bowls stacked next to them. They were relaxing and chatting animatedly. She froze, choosing to observe them for a while. It was very rare for these three to get time to just sit and relax. The majority of all of their time was spent training, meaning that they'd missed out on one of the most important parts of life - their childhood. With this in mind, Honya vowed she would do whatever she could to help rid the world of the Akatsuki, and try and give these kids as good a childhood as she could.

Having watched enough, she approached quietly, only announcing her presence as she took a seat next to Naruto, who was whining about not having enough money for another bowl. "I'll pay if you like, Naruto-kun," she said

Naruto nearly jumped at the sound of her voice, but smiled almost as soon as he realized who was sitting next to him. "Honya-chan! What're you doing here?" he asked curiously.

Sasuke slapped him over the back of his head. "Baka! She's your Sensei! Stop being so disrespectful!"

"Oh, shut up! What do you know, show off? You never call Itachi-Sensei, Sensei!" was Naruto's retort.

Hinata ignored Sasuke's and Naruto's banter, and greeted Honya with an odd look and a stuttered, "H-Hello, Honya-Sensei."

Also choosing to ignore Naruto's and Sasuke's sudden argument, Honya nodded at Hinata. "Hey there, Hinata-chan! How's lunch been so far?" Honya had become especially fond of Hinata. She reminded her a lot of herself. She used to be so much like her; shy, low on self-confidence, and crushing before she knew what it meant. And the fact that Hinata seemed to have grown so much in confidence just made Honya all the more happier. It had taken her years to grow out of her old ways, but Hinata had done it in such a short time. It was almost inspirational.

"Yes," she answered. "It's been good. Um... Where is Itachi-Sensei?" she questioned, bringing a shout of "SEE! _She _calls him Itachi-Sensei!" from Naruto.

Honya chuckled, "He's still with Hokage-sama. Actually, he sent me here to find you three." This seemed to draw everyone's attention, silencing Naruto mid-argument. "Yes, it seems we have another C rank mission. He says to prepare for a very difficult protection mission."

This drew mixed reactions from the three, Naruto whooped and punched the air, excited at the chance to show off his new skills. Sasuke smirked slightly, finding himself slightly bored with the level of missions they'd been taking lately. Hinata just blushed, watching Naruto jump around with a smile on her face.

Smiling at the three, she cut their celebration short. "You'll be leaving tomorrow, so you should probably go and prepare."

"Don't worry about that yet, Honya-san," said a voice behind her. Turning around, she found Itachi holding back the curtain to the stand, smiling at the excited commotion his genin squad, or rather just Naruto, had been making. "Hokage-sama would like to see you three in his office to debrief you about the mission, and then after for a friendly spar to test your skills."

The three went silent immediately, awed at the prospect of facing one of the most powerful ninja alive. The greatest Hokage ever - the Yondaime.

x

xXx

x

**A/N:** I'm really, really sorry about the wait. As I said in an Author's Note I posted my computer crashed and I lost all the progress I'd made on the chapter. I've written this chapter in something like a week, which is a record for me. And to be honest, I'm really happy with how it's going at the moment. There are a couple of parts that are still a bit scratchy, but I'm going through the entire story to edit and update it all, just to make things clearer. Now, to make up for the inexcusable lateness of this chapter, I've made this one the longest of any of my previous ones. That's also partly because this chapter did not want to end. In fact, I get the feeling I could probably add more to this - which I may before I decide to post.

Awesome thing is, when I'd previously written this chapter I was unhappy with it and who I'd chosen for Naruto's Doujutsu trainer. Losing the chapter gave me a chance to broaden my horizon, and create a better character - given she is based loosely on Miyuzaki Nodoka from Mahou Sensei Negima, but she's still someone I'm happy with including.

For future update information, check out my profile, 'cause I've got this dealy where I tell you how much of the chapter's done and that sort of thing. I'll also be posting the occasional poll when I can't make a decision story-wise on my own. Hopefully, this should keep you all up to date on when the next update will be. But the general time frame would usually be something like 1 and a half to two weeks. During my exams, probably a month between.

On another note, I'm beginning to reconsider the original pairing of Naru/Hina. While I love that pairing, I've read a whole lot of stories that include other pairings, or even the occasional harem. I'm not saying that I'm going with a harem, but at this stage it is a possibility and that would be including Honya as one of them. I'll probably leave it up to a vote on my profile on whether this should be a harem, Naru/Hina, other ships, or no ships. But since this won't really be playing much of a part until much later in the story, that won't be happening for quite a while.

You may have also noticed the lack of Naruto being trained, or rather the scenes in which Honya trains him. This was done intentionally. This was done more to hide what Honya's truly capable of. Though she may have fought for a short while in the training exercise, I can assure you that is nowhere near what she is capable of. She's so much stronger than that. You'll find out for certain soon enough.

Now, from this chapter you may be able to guess vaguely at some of the Getsueigan's capabilities. But I have no doubt at all that you _will _find it difficult. So, with that in mind, I've decided to write a little bitty here describing the abilities of the Namikaze Clan Doujutsu.

**Getsueigan (Moon- Eye)**

The Getsueigan is the Doujutsu of the Namikaze clan. The development rate is 3/5 people of pure Namikaze blood will develop it. For some reason, this rises with non-pure blood to 2/3. It is for this reason that marriage outside the clan is actively encouraged.

The Getsueigan's capabilities are best viewed in four separate areas; Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and chakra in general. Each of these areas and their strength are dependant themselves on the user's strength and abilities. For instance, if someone is particularly strong at Ninjutsu, their chakra manipulation would be a lot stronger. The same goes if they are Genjutsu, Taijutsu or Ninjutsu specialists.

The first area, Genjutsu, is manipulated by the Getsueigan, as previously mentioned, according to the user's strength. Users are able to turn certain Genjutsu back on the caster if they are strong enough, and only if they notice said Genjutsu of their own accord. The Getsueigan does not allow users to spot Genjutsu any easier.

The next, Taijutsu, is more of an analytical effect. Users are able to analyze an opponents Taijutsu style and provide them with the best way to manipulate the Namikaze's versatile form to combat the enemy's style. It, like the Sharingan, is able to heighten detail and make watching speed easier. It's also able to provide the user with several ways to evade or counter any strike they are attacked with. It becomes a second sense to masters, who don't even have to have their Doujutsu active to use the Taijutsu aspect.

The next area, and likely the most important in Naruto's case, is Ninjutsu. This relates strongly to the manipulation of chakra, but essentially the user is able to focus or strengthen certain jutsu for a limited amount of time. This, of course, depends almost entirely on the users personal strength, their element affiliation, and their own strength in Ninjutsu.

The final, and likely most important area of ability the Getsueigan excels in, is chakra. Users are able to sense others by their chakra much easier at a range dependant on their strength. They are also able to utilize other's chakra if they're strong enough.

**Jutsu:  
Tenrai Sashiki no Kaze:** A wind jutsu that can be set like a trap and released by the caster. It releases thousands of razor sharp winds.  
**Tenrai ****Rakka: **A wind jutsu that causes the air around a large area to increase in density, and push down on everything below it.**  
**

Today's inspirational song: 'You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground' Mayday Parade


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